A Day in the Life of a Physical Therapist Assistant

Throughout my time as a PTA, I’ve been asked what exactly I do, and what does a workday look like for a PTA, and what exactly that means. So, let’s look together.

My workday starts when I get to the clinic every morning around 7:50 am, before my first patient at 8. During those first 10 minutes, I log in and look at my schedule for the day and see who I will be treating in the morning. I will typically look at their previous visit notes to check and see how they are doing. If it is a patient that I have not worked with before, I will check in with her supervising physical therapist to get a rundown of their case, and how they are doing. Once I have done a quick chart review, I will start working with my patients for the day, spending about 45 minutes to an hour with them. During this time, I check in with them, see how they are doing, and go through their treatment plan, making any adjustments as needed. When I am done with one patient, I will move onto the next until my last patient of the morning. After I have worked with all my morning patients, I begin to work on my documentation.

Documentation is the not so fun part of being a physical therapist assistant, but it is a necessary part. This is where we keep track of how the patient is doing, how they are tolerating treatment, any changes to their program or symptoms. During this time, I ensure that out treatment program is up to date, and the charges for the day are correct. Once this is done, I submit charges to billing, and I sign the notes for the day. Then it’s time for lunch.

I use my lunch time as a time to recharge and refresh before the afternoon. When lunch is over, I restart the whole process again for the afternoon. Starting with review, working with patients, and documenting. This process is then repeated each day of the week.

This is just a condensed version on what goes on in my workday as a Physical Therapist Assistant. While it may seem repetitive, it never gets boring, and it always enjoyable. Hopefully, this gives you a little bit of insight into my day as a PTA!