What career advancements are available for PTAs?
There are currently three levels of formal educational preparation in physical therapy. Physical Therapist education is either the Master’s level or the Doctorate level, and the PTA education is at the Associate Degree level. There are very few programs in the country which have been developed as career ladder programs for PTAs; however, a significant number of PTA graduates are accepted into PT programs with significant additional time and study. The American Physical Therapy Association’s goal for physical therapist education (not PTA) is to have the doctorate degree be the entry level degree for PTs by the year 2020, so most PT educational programs are working toward this goal. Other types of career advancement include increased responsibility for patient care, increased education and experience in one or more specialized areas within physical therapy (such as pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedics, burn care), additional responsibilities for supervision of students or other personnel,
