MINIMUM ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
 FOR ADMISSION, PROMOTION,
 AND GRADUATION

 (Adapted from the Univ. Of Colorado and other selected schools with permission)

Introduction
The purpose of this document is to describe the knowledge, attitude, and motor skills, abilities, and behaviors deemed essential for the completion of the program. These essentials carry forward into the formation of the generalist PT Assistant. The following list is illustrative, and not intended as an all-encompassing picture of the essential abilities that a PTA must have. More information about specifics concerning the frequency, lifting and force limits, and other physical activities performed by a PTA may be found in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, published by the US Government.

Standards
It is during the two-year curriculum that the student develops or enhances the qualities needed to practice physical therapy. Students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors needed beginning in the program and continue to develop these as their career unfolds. The abilities listed below are the basis for safe and effective practice, along with the APTA’s Core Values, State of Ohio Code of Ethics for the PT or PTA. As students progress through the program, they are evaluated by clinical instructors with the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI), and Warren May’s Professional Behaviors. The CPI is consistent with many of the skills and abilities below, being integral to student training.

Reasonable accommodation is offered to students if needed, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Successful completion of the program includes passing exams, lab tests, and other required certifications, along with obtaining the necessary immunizations, and physical examination prior to clinical participation.

Specific Standards and Areas of Essential Function
Candidates for the degree must be able to meet these minimum standards and be in compliance with the standards of practice for the locale in which the clinical is performed.

Observation
Observation involves the functional use of vision, hearing and somatic sensations.
Standard: A student must be able to observe lectures, lab demonstrations, radiographic images, and microscopic tissue specimens and gauges or meters on various modality units.
Essential Functions: The student must be able to observe a patient accurately, including observing digital and waveform and other graphic readings from therapeutic devices in order to determine a patient’s treatment or condition. Examples include, but are not limited to: palpation of peripheral pulses, bony prominences, body shape, posture or alignment, visual and tactile (touch) assessment of areas of inflammation, swelling or edema, wound color and size, gait analysis, and ECG/EKG readings.

Communication
Competence in communication is fundamental in the career of the student. This includes an aspect of patient/client education.
Standard: This area includes speech, language, reading and writing in English, and computer literacy. Essential Functions: Students must be able to communicate effectively and sensitively with clients/ patients to elicit necessary information regarding pain level/intensity, and mood via the perception of non-verbal cues and verbal statements. Students must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with other members of the health care community to convey essential information for safe, ethical care. Students need to communicate with individuals in a culturally sensitive way, while accepting individual differences. They must be able to read, write, speak and understand English at a level of competence consistent with successful course and clinical completion.

Motor or Muscle Use
Motor skills require the coordination of both gross and fine muscular movement, equilibrium, and the integrated use of touch and vision.
Standard: Students must possess sufficient motor function to elicit information from patients for use in assessment and intervention. This is exemplified by palpation, auscultation, tapping and other assessment maneuvers.
Essential Functions: Students must be able to execute movements required to provide general and therapeutic interventions including, but not limited to: positioning patients of varying sizes and weights, draping and transferring (im)mobile patients, gait training with varying assistive devices, applying orthotics and prosthetics, performing range of motion and other mobilization techniques, performing non-surgical wound care, placing of electrodes onto body surfaces, and applying ultrasound applicators to the same.

  Intellectual and Conceptual, Quantitative and Integrative
  These abilities include measurement, calculation, reasoning, analysis, judgment, and numerical recognition.
  Standard:  Problem-solving and critical thinking are key skills demanded of the PT Assistant. These abilities
  must be performed quickly and efficiently, especially in emergency situations.
  Essential Functions: Students must be able to identify significant findings from the PT plan of care and        
  examination/evaluation and provide a reasoned explanation to patients for the care prescribed. They must
  recall information in an efficient and timely manner. The ability to incorporate new information from peers,
  teachers, medical literature, and courses into a lifelong learning plan is essential. Knowledge and skills gained
  in this area will enhance treatment interventions and the execution of the therapist’s plan of care. Sound
  judgment in the patient assessment and therapeutic planning are essential. Students must communicate their
  limits and scope of care to others when appropriate. Students must assist in collecting and managing data for
  the PT’s caseload.

Behavioral and Social Attributes
Students must demonstrate ethical behavior and recognize the psycho-social impacts of impairment, functional limitations, and disabilities, while integrating the needs of the patient and family into the plan of care provided by the supervising physical therapist. This includes patient/client education.
Standard: The student must possess the psychological ability required for the full utilization of their intellectual potential. Students must demonstrate the exercise of sound judgment, in addition to the prompt completion of all responsibilities assigned. This includes not only the care of the patients, but the development of mature, sensitive and effective professional relationships with them and other health care providers.
Essential Functions: Students must be able to handle the stresses of a fulltime school course load during training in class, along with a fulltime caseload by their final clinical. They must be able to work effectively to manage stress and resources, displaying flexibility as they learn to face some uncertainties of the health care environment and patient clinical problems.

Reasonable Accommodation
It is the policy of Shawnee State University to provide reasonable accommodation for any qualified student with a disability, so long as it does not fundamentally alter the nature of the program offered, and does not impose an undue hardship upon the program, staff or other students.

If a student cannot meet or demonstrate the above listed essential functions at the standards above, it is the responsibility of the student to request reasonable accommodation(s) as early as possible. The determination of whether the accommodation is reasonable will be on an individual basis. This determination will be on an interactive basis with the program leader, in conjunction with the coordinator of disability services on campus. Advance notice is highly encouraged.