News about Physical Therapist Assistant

Career Day brought hundreds of ninth-12th graders to campus on Thursday to explore more than 30 activities offered by employees and students to help high-schoolers learn about the wide variety of career options available to them. The event is coordinated by the College Transitions and First Year Initiatives Office.

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A dozen residential Pre-College Programs and a daytime Creative Art Camp brought hundreds of young women and men to Penn College’s campuses in mid-June, providing hands-on entry to the myriad career opportunities reflected in the institution’s postsecondary curriculum. Keeping campers (and PCToday photographers) busy in recent days were these fun learning opportunities, some of which involved culminating projects: Architecture Odyssey, Autism Spectrum Post-Secondary Interest Experience (ASPIE), Automotive Restoration, Aviation, Building Construction (new this year), Creative Art Camp, Engineering, Future Restaurateurs, Graphic Design Summer Studio, Grow & Design Horticulture, Health Careers, Information Technology and SMART (Science and Math in Real-world Technologies) Girls.

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Students from Penn College’s School of Nursing & Health Sciences and School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications joined area law enforcement, emergency management and health care professionals in a recent simulation at UPMC Susquehanna Williamsport Regional Medical Center and a variety of other locations.

The college’s paramedic program has participated in the drill since its inception, and this year, the School of Nursing & Health Sciences decided to participate schoolwide to provide an interdisciplinary learning opportunity. The school had conducted its own Interdisciplinary Professional Experience on campus for several years.

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Fifteen members of the first graduating class from Pennsylvania College of Technology’s physical therapist assistant major have taken the national physical therapy exam for physical therapist assistants, and all 15 passed on their first try.

The 2017 national pass rate for the NPTE physical therapist assistant exam is 87 percent.

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Building construction has been added to the abounding schedule of pre-college initiatives offered at Pennsylvania College of Technology, hands-on summer activities that mirror the nationally renowned opportunities afforded postsecondary students.

“Our Pre-College Programs offer living and learning experiences in which students have opportunities to explore unique academic interests in a state-of-the-art environment,” said Deborah B. Wescott, manager of conference and guest relations. “It’s a chance to work and make connections with industry leaders, meet and mingle with your peers, and establish a path that could lead to all sorts of future possibilities.”

The signup deadline is May 31 for the institution’s 12 residential programs and its one day camp.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology’s physical therapist assistant program has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education.

Accreditation is a process used in the United States to assure the quality of the education that students receive. It is a voluntary, nongovernmental, peer-review process that occurs on a regular basis.

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The School of Nursing & Health Sciences at Pennsylvania College of Technology held a multifaceted celebration on Oct. 4 by hosting an open house of its facilities and welcoming accomplished alumni, who reflected on how their education has shaped their careers.

“We come together … to celebrate the positive impact all 10 of our nursing and health sciences programs have on our students’ lives, the professions in which they work, and the communities they serve,” said Sandra L. Richmond, dean of nursing and health sciences.

Of particular significance during the celebration was a change to the school’s name: from the School of Health Sciences to the School of Nursing & Health Sciences, and the anniversaries of the occupational therapy assistant program, whose first students graduated 30 years ago, and the physician assistant program, which graduated its first students 20 years ago.

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Nearly 250 students have petitioned to graduate in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Summer 2018 Commencement ceremony, scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Community Arts Center.

The student speaker will be Lara K. Duke, of Swengel, Union County, who will receive an Associate of Applied Science in physical therapist assistant. A Dean’s List student, Duke previously earned a Bachelor of Science in athletic training from Boise State University.

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Students in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Physical Therapist Assistant Club harvested a plentiful crop to benefit The Cupboard at Penn College, an on-campus food pantry that assists students and their families.

The club initiated a 10-day food drive to coincide with the American Physical Therapy Association’s Global PT Day-of-Service, observed Oct. 14 as part of the association’s National Physical Therapy Month.

National Physical Therapy Month recognizes the impact that physical therapists and physical therapist assistants have on improving the human experience and the world’s health. The students’ participation in Global PT Day-of-Service joined them with thousands of physical therapy staff and students around the world who volunteered in many ways.

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Around 250 students in the School of Health Sciences – an academic division that spans 11 distinct health care and allied health fields – are participating this week in a series of hands-on emergency health simulations. The school’s fourth annual Interdisciplinary Professional Event involves 24 student teams, each made up of a cross section of health disciplines, discussing and observing one another’s role in their assigned case. Students in the physician assistant major played roles of patients, whose health problems ranged from an allergic reaction to Novocain in the Dental Hygiene Clinic to a loss of consciousness in the Keystone Dining Room, and surgeries to replace hips and remove gallbladders. As “patients” moved through the health care system, they moved, with their observers, from lab to lab in the Breuder Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center. The purpose of the experience is to prepare the students to deliberatively work together as patients interact with each of them during their health care experience, with an ultimate goal to improve patient care. Also involved were 23 staff and faculty from the school, who planned and managed the event and led groups through their simulations on Tuesday and Thursday.

Pennsylvania College of Technology welcomed the first class of students into its new Physical Therapist Assistant Program this spring, following a semester of prerequisite coursework.

The two-year degree program culminates in an Associate of Applied Science degree; students wishing to continue their studies to the bachelor’s level may continue in the applied health studies major.

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