P/T & O/T Assistant

Has anyone else noticed the heavy marketing of P/T & O/T assistant programs? It seems like they are the new thing so hopefully everyone will start flooding that market.
Yes, I'm always seeing jobs for pt/ot assistants. These are mainly for home health positions but I've never personally seen any in the hospital. Maybe they mainly work in home health and rehab settings.

yep. PT/OT assistant is the new thing. Unfortunately the OTs and PTs are getting pushed out of jobs. Mostly it's a reaction to the ACA; facilities (esp. SNF/subacute and outpatient) are freaking out about the idea that healthcare reform may slightly reduce their precious profits. They're trying to cut back on the number of OTs/PTs, in some cases only using them for evaluations, updates and d/c paperwork, and using assistants for all the actual treatment sessions. My housemate is a PT- graduated last spring with an obscene amount of debt because PT now requires a 3-year clinical doctorate program after 4 years of undergrad. Apparently PTs and OTs are having a hard time finding jobs, esp new grads, because most places want to staff only the minimum number of supervising therapists and as many assistants as possible to save money.

Good, hopefully it will pull some of the "would have been nurses" away... too many people are becoming nurses because it's marketed so much, then they get on the floor and their heart is totally not in it.

My youngest daughter is enrolled in an OTA program and my son-in-law is trying to get into a PTA program at local colleges. (There are very few of these programs out there outside of the for-profit schools.)

Quote from meanmaryjeanMy youngest daughter is enrolled in an OTA program and my son-in-law is trying to get into a PTA program at local colleges. (There are very few of these programs out there outside of the for-profit schools.)

My daughter is at the University of Southern Indiana and my son-in-law is at Ivy Tech - both state schools, regionally accredited.

How long are their programs?

PTA and OTA are Associates degrees.A program that is as long as the ADN including similar prerequisites(+Intro to Physics) and usually requires several hours of signed observation along with letters of recommendation just to apply but in the end you are still called "ASSISTANT". The PTA and OTA must still work under a PT or OT in some capacity. They are limited as to what they can do but are still the worker bees in any PT or OT department. They also make less than half of what an RN makes. I can definitely see where that would be a hard sell and a lot of creative marketing would need to be done to get candidates into the program. examplehttp://www.mwcc.edu/PDFs/PTAClinical...onHandbook.pdf

My daughter's program is five semesters - the PTA is four I believe. USI offers a BS in Health Profession which dovetails with the OTA degree and can get graduates admission into their Masters in OT program. Which is what Kathleen wants to do.

Just saw another school advertising. This really may be the next "shortage".

Quote from TraumaSurfer They also make less than half of what an RN makes. I can definitely see where that would be a hard sell and a lot of creative marketing would need to be done to get candidates into the program. examplehttp://www.mwcc.edu/PDFs/PTAClinical...onHandbook.pdf

where we are it's usual for an assistant to make ~75% of a therapist's salary. It does seem a bit strange that they make so much compared to the supervising therapist, who has had to go through a 4-year undergrad degree and then a masters (OT) or clinical doctorate (PT).The problem is, PTA programs are becoming a dime a dozen and now PTAs are having the same trouble as everyone else finding work. OTs and COTA's are doing okay now, but many therapists I've talked with at work think that Medicare/insurance is trying to do away with their profession by saying that there isn't anything an OT does that isn't already done by PT (upper extremity strength/ROM, balance, etc), nursing (basic ADL training), or speech therapy (cognition).