PT 285Clinical Reasoning for the PTA

2 credits · Physical Therapy · Penn State

This course will provide PTA students with opportunities to synthesize, prioritize, and apply rehabilitation principles from many different PTA courses. Students will learn strategies to combine data collection skills, interventions, and techniques in an integrated manner. Communication, documentation skills and therapeutic intervention skills will be developed through activities and class assignments. Patient scenarios will be utilized to afford students opportunities to develop their skills in choosing and applying effective treatment strategies for patients with complex diagnoses and/or cultural or intellectual differences, all while simultaneously addressing their patient's comorbidities, past medical history, family dynamics and anticipated discharge destination. Using extensive examples, exercises, and real life scenarios, this course teaches students skills to assess, treat and document functional outcomes in a clear and logical progression. Additionally, concepts, principles, skills and techniques will be reviewed in preparation for the final clinical experiences and the PTA licensure examination. This course is available to students enrolled in the PTA major.