Physical Therapist Assistant

Physical Therapist Assistant Student Essential Functions

The Essential Functions are the nonacademic requirements of each Program. They correspond to the physical, psychological, and professional demands required of a Physical Therapist Assistant. These practitioners perform procedures that impact patient care and safety. For this reason, although SUNY Broome Community College is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution, it is important that every applicant meets certain technical standards (essential functions) to be able to engage in training activities that will not endanger students, faculty or patients.

The minimum goal or expectation of the program is to prepare competent entry-level Physical Therapist Assistants in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains.

With appropriate accommodations if needed, all students must be able to perform activities such as those listed below.

Physical Functions:

• Ability to efficiently implement the skills required in performing physical therapy functions using sufficient gross motor coordination and strength.
• Lift 1/3 of your body weight.
• Help in lifting patients who may be comatose, paralyzed, or otherwise incapacitated.
• Lift, move, and push heavy equipment, i.e. Hoyer lift, stretchers etc.
• Able to ambulate and safely guard an incapacitated patient to prevent falls.
• Able to move patient, and align body parts.
• Ability to perform delicate manipulations that require good eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills.
• Operate computers.
• Do such tasks as gloving and gowning.
• Operate controls on machinery.
• Ability to write legibly and correctly.
• Ability to read typewritten text and patient data from a computer screen, with or without corrective devices.
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing instructions and directions to patients and to and from other health care personnel.
• Ability to navigate efficiently within the classroom, hospital and clinic corridors, passageways, and doorway at a pace consistent with that of other employees.
• Ability to speak, to hear, and to observe patients in order to elicit information, perceive nonverbal communication, describe changes in mood, activity and posture.
• Ability to react quickly in emergency situations, to distress sounds, visual distress cues, emergency alarms, and vital sign assessment equipment.

Psychological Functions:

• Ability to perform accurately and quickly even under stressful conditions and adapt to changing situations.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment and think logically in the performance of one’s duties.
• Ability to organize and assume responsibility for one’s work.
• Ability to identify behaviors that would endanger a person’s safety and intervene quickly in a crisis situation with an appropriate solution.
• Ability to react quickly, both mentally and physically.
• Ability to remain calm, rational, decisive, and in control at all times, especially during emergency situations.

Professional Functions:

• Ability to communicate in the English language in a professional, positive, tactful manner with patients and their family members, physicians, nurses, other health care and non-health care employees.
• Ability to maintain patient confidentiality and exercise ethical judgment, integrity, honesty, dependability, and accountability in the performance of one’s professional responsibilities.
• Ability to work carefully while maintaining efficiency and organization.
• Ability to exercise critical thinking skills to solve problems.
• Ability to follow written or verbal directions to perform tasks or procedures.
• Ability to project a well-groomed, neat appearance and maintain cleanliness and personal grooming consistent with close personal contact.
• Ability to work as a member of a team.
• Exhibit social skills appropriate to professional interactions.