Jaime A. RochaUnit Objective 5. State licensure requirements for the PTA.

The Qualifications for Licensing

• Education Requirements

• Examination Requirements

• Renewal Cycle

• Continuing Education

• Applicants for licensing, from a foreign country

The Education Requirements

Physical Therapy Assistants must complete an education program within the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).

Be able to read, write, and communicate proficient in the English language.

An associates, bachelors, or masters program is acceptable. Pre-professional courses will be required to be completed : humanities, social sciences, liberal arts, physical sciences, biological sciences, behavioral sciences, and mathematics.

Examination Requirements

Complete the application process along with the payment of all fee’s relating to the examination reimbursement costs.

The requirement to pass all of the questions in an open-book take-home Utah Physical Therapy Law and Rule Examination.

Pass the 200 question National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) of the Federation of State Licensing Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT). This examination assess the skills and knowledge of entry level PTA’s.

Renewal Cycle

There is a 2 year renewal cycle, beginning in June 1st, every odd year.

Continuing Education

A Physical Therapy Assistant must complete no less than 20 hours of contact education of which 3 of the hours must be ethics and law.

Contact education involves the lecturing or instructing a course, or forms of completing the following course types: seminar, lecture, conference, department in service, training session, journal club, and webinar, to say a few.

Each contact hour shall not go under 50 minutes of “time”, lecturing and instructing is limit to the same course twice. 2 hours accumulates to 1 contact hour.

Applicants for licensing, from a foreign country

Applicants from foreign countries who wish to attain a license must document education equivalent to the CAPTE programs.

Submission must be processed through the Division a credential evaluation from the Foreign Credentialing Commission on Physical Therapy. Pre-professional college general courses may need to be taken for any deficiencies, or by passing the College Level Examination Program (CLEP).

English language must be proficient in writing, reading, and communication.

WORKS CITED

http://www.rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r156/r156-01.htm#T16