Career

The Physical Therapist Assistant is an educated health care provider who assists the Physical therapist in the provision of physical therapy. Duties of the physical therapist assistant (PTA) include: training patients in exercises and activities of daily care living; conducting treatments utilizing special equipment; assisting in performing test, evaluations and complex treatment procedures; and observing and reporting the patient's responses.

PTAs work in many types of settings, such as general hospitals, rehabilitation centers, developmental centers, nursing homes, schools for handicapped children, and community health centers. Currently there are not enough physical therapy practitioners to meet the needs throughout the country. In the 2002 “Report Card” published by GCC, The PTA program’s graduates had the highest salaries as well as the highest placement rate of all the career programs at GCC.