By Raegan Rinchiuso, Heartland Community College
If you’ve ever had an injury or major surgery, chances are you’ve gone through physical therapy. An aging population, the rise of the “weekend warrior” lifestyle and the mindset of wanting to stay active as long as possible have led many people to seek out the services of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. The career field is on the rise with increased demand for these health professionals.
When most people think of physical therapy, they often think of physical therapists (PTs). But in addition to these positions, the field also employs physical therapist assistants (PTAs). Like their PT counterparts, they work with patients to perform therapy interventions. Both positions require practitioners to pass a national licensure exam and must regularly have continuing education hours to maintain licensure. However, only PTs can perform an examination, do an evaluation, and develop a plan of care, and PTAs must always work under the supervision of a licensed PT.
In addition to the different tasks that PTs and PTAs can perform, there are significant differences in the amount of training required. PTs must have a doctorate degree in physical therapy, a process that takes seven years of post high school education and costs an average of $110,817 at public institutions. In contrast PTAs must complete a two-year associate degree in physical therapy assistant at a cost of roughly $15,632. As expected, there is also an earning difference between these two career options. PTs make an average of $79,860 annually compared to the PTA median wage of $52,160. Though the two jobs are related, students need to choose the career path they are interested in at the outset since PTA programs are not a transitional step to PT programs.
Both PTs and PTAs are in high demand as places like hospitals, outpatient clinics, extended care facilities, schools, and sports training centers all regularly employ such positions. The increased demand for people who can work in these positions has led Heartland Community College to begin offering the new Physical Therapist Assistant Associate Degree — a program that begins in the spring of 2015 pending accreditation approval.
Employment of health care practitioners is one of the top employment growth areas in the country and PTAs are no exception. For the local workforce, PTA positions are expected to grow 11 percent in the next five years. Nationally, growth for these positions is expected to be closer to 18 percent. Of the local care facilities surveyed regarding their need for PTAs, over 50 percent reported that they estimate increased demand for these positions in the coming years.
Yet despite this increased demand for this specific trained workforce, there are limited offerings of the PTA degree program in Central Illinois. Heartland Community College is responding to community needs by establishing a PTA program right here in Bloomington/Normal. Already HCC has been contacted by other community colleges in the area asking them to accept their students or set up extension programs on their campuses
Pending final accreditation, Heartland will begin accepting students to the selective admission program. Students will be admitted based on a combination of their pre-admission courses GPA, their score on the Health Occupations Basic Entrance Test and prior academic achievement (i.e. bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, etc.). Before officially entering the program students will need to have taken 23 hours of the required general education courses. Preference for admission to the program will be given to residents of Heartland Community College District 540.
Detailed information about Heartland’s Physical Therapy Assistant program can be found at www.heartland.edu/hhs/pta. Interested students can also contact the Health and Human Services Division at Heartland Community College at 309-268-8740 Application deadline for Spring 2015 is August 1.
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