PT Aide- Ashley S.

Hi all, in case you didn’t know, working as a Physical Therapy Aide is one option for getting your PCE hours! I’m going to tell you what a typical day looks like and my overall impressions of the job. Keep in mind each PT clinic will have different duties and expectations for their aides and I’m speaking from my own experience only.

Like the rest of medicine, PT can be roughly divided into inpatient and outpatient. I work in outpatient, in a Sports/Family Medicine clinic. Most of the patients we see are post-surgery, have chronic pain, or have sports related injuries. (We also see some professional athletes, who are alot of fun to work with because they’re so high level!) Anyways, this is in contrast to patients who are hospitalized and can’t travel by themselves. Coming from the Pathmaker Internship, it was nice to make small talk and talk to patients casually, instead of working with patients who are not oriented or extremely ill. Moreover, having previously scribed for a little bit, it was nice to be directly involved with patients’ treatment, instead of just writing up their “plan”. I deeply value my time as a Pathmaker and as a scribe; being able to work as a PT aide has allowed me to follow through with a patient’s road to recovery and see healthcare come full circle.

What do you do?

When a patient comes to our clinic, they see the PT for 30 minutes. The PT assesses them, does some hands-on massages and/or various other treatments, and writes up some exercises, which the aide will take the patient through in the next 30 minutes. So the aides are working one on one with the patient 90-95% of the time. We take the patients through various agility, balance, strengthening, mobility, and/or stretching exercises as indicated by the PT. The PTs are always within earshot and can help us out if we are confused about an exercise or need help cuing the patient. Our job is to make sure the patient is performing the exercise correctly, not aggravating their pain, time them, determine repetitions, and increase or decrease the difficulty of the exercise as we see fit. After our thirty minutes with the patient, we can put the patient on ice, heat, or electrical stimulation. We can also perform ice massages or ultrasound therapy. Finally, aides will write up their home exercise plan and email it to the patient to perform on days they don’t come in for PT. In downtime or between patients, we clean the tables and equipment, and restock towels and pillowcases; however, the clinic I work at has interns to help with these non-clinical duties.

What qualifications do you need?

I think the most important thing was to have hands-on patient interaction. The Pathmaker Internship definitely helped me out here, and I think scribing looked good because I knew some medical terminology. However, I don’t think medical terminology helped me very much compared to anatomical terms and positions (supination/pronation, abduction/adduction, flexion/extension).

I would highly highly suggest taking anatomy beforehand. Many of the exercise names will come easier if you are familiar with anatomical names. Additionally, it will help you remember the exercises if you know what muscles each exercise is targeting. I took anatomy while I started working as a PT aide, but I think it would have been more helpful to know the terminology before starting work.

Also, it would definitely help to have a background in sports/working out. Not only will this help you learn the names of exercises, you’ll be better able to help the patient through the exercises and give them better cues and feedback.

Lastly, you have to be willing to repeat yourself and make small talk with your patients throughout your shift. Because you’re working with a new patient every thirty minutes, you have to have a friendly disposition, remain upbeat, and be willing to have conversation (often similar ones) with each patient. This is one piece of advice my interviewer told me and it definitely rings true.

How did you get the job?

I applied on Craigslist! I sent in my resume and cover letter and was scheduled for an interview pretty soon. I came in for the interview and it probably took a month to hear back that I got the job. This is because the aides are all part-time positions and they have to make sure everyone’s schedules can provide coverage for all the PTs. After I got the “yes” I did the paperwork on a Friday and started my training the Monday after!

Favorite/least favorite part of the job?

My favorite part of the job is when the PTs take the time to explain the purpose behind each exercise they assign and what the exercise is doing for the body. I like hearing the real world application/reasoning behind assigning certain moves. Another aspect of the job I really love is being able to see patients get better, and become more empowered with their health. It’s wonderful to see patients’ progress, whether it be less pain, more mobility, more stability, or all of the above. Upon witnessing their own progress, I think patients start to believe they are in control of their health and continue to take steps to live the life they want.

My least favorite part of the job is seeing how fragmented American healthcare is (but it’s definitely a great thing to be exposed to and aware of). It’s crazy to see that certain insurances only pay for six PT visits, and once these visits are used up, the patient is forced to pay out of pocket or is unable to get the care they need. Being exposed to the PT realm has also shown me how disorganized and fragmented patient care can be; for example if the doctor thinks the patient has one thing and assigns a protocol for the PT to follow, but the PT thinks the patient has another thing, then it’s difficult to decide on the best way to treat the patient.

Overall, it’s been really cool to work with PTs, meet pre-PT students, and learn more about the muscles and nerves of the body. Seeing the same patients sometimes twice a week is wonderful because you get to establish a personal connection with them and you become invested in their recovery. I’m still learning lots of new exercises and ways to cue patients so there is always room for growth and improvement. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! My email is asheng@ucsd.edu.