Home > SHCJ > Physical Therapist Assistant > Clinical Education

Clinical Education

PTA Clinical Handbook

Clinical Education is an essential component of the Physical Therapist Assistant curriculum. Students first gain full-time, hands-on clinical experience during PHTA 104/Clinical I, a 4-week clinical experience that occurs at the end of the first year of the program. During the spring semester of the second year, students complete two additional six-week full-time clinical experiences, PHTA 207/Clinical II and PHTA 209/Clinical III.

In each clinical course, the student is assigned to a physical therapy clinical site where they work under the direct supervision of a physical therapist or a physical therapist assistant. Clinical courses allow the student to put the knowledge and skills they have acquired in the classroom and laboratory into practice in a clinical setting in preparation for entry-level clinical practice.

Students are required to do their clinicals in different types of physical therapy settings to ensure that they gain exposure to a variety of patient diagnoses and diversity of patient populations, as well as to experience the differences in health care delivery across various settings.

The types of settings may include any of the following:

1. Acute care hospital – inpatient care
2. Hospital based outpatient PT department
3. Private practice outpatient clinic
4. Nursing Home - skilled nursing and subacute rehab
5. Rehabilitation hospital
6. School system
7. Home health care agency

Our program is affiliated with clinical sites in a variety of locations. We currently have numerous affiliation agreements with facilities in the North Country Region and other parts of New York State and Vermont. The program also has contracts with several national physical therapy companies with clinics throughout the United States.