Georgia

United States Physical Therapy Practice Acts

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Supervision

A physical therapist is responsible for providing adequate supervision of the physical therapy assistant and must be available to the PTA at all times. The physical therapist shall be present in the same setting, nursing home, acute hospital, convalescent hospital, rehabilitation center, other in-patient facility and out-patient clinic (including a private office) 50% of a work week.  In general, after an initial evaluation, the PT decides what parts of the individual's treatment plan can be delegated to a PTA and then continues to reevaluate the PTA's performance and how the patient is doing throughout their treatments.  

In the home health setting, the PT performs the initial evaluation, defining the physical therapy diagnosis, treatment goals, frequency, duration, and plan of care and must make an on-site visit to each patient at a minimum of every sixth visit or if the treatment plan needs to be altered.  The PT must meet with the PTA atleast once a week to review all patients being treated and make note of the decisions made during these meetings.  

In the school setting, PT's perform the evaluations which develop or amend physical therapy interventions stated on the student's Individual Educational Plan, make on-site visits to each student atleast every fourth scheduled week if they are scheduled for direct weekly services from the PTA, and no less than once every three months for students who are scheduled with the PTA once monthly or less.  These on-site visits include a case review, reassessment of the program and physical therapy services, and a review of the PTA's documentation.  The PT must be accessible to the PTA at all times.

Continued Competence

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants are required to participate in a minimum of thirty hours of continuing education biennially for their licenses to be renewed; four of those hours must address ethics and jurisprudence.  These continuing education expereiences can be audited by the board and must pertain to information that enhances the individual's current level of knowledge and be related to patient care in physical therapy.

References

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Disclaimer:   Informational Content is assimilated from the state practice act is a resource only and should not be considered a  substitute for the content within the state practice act.  All state practice acts can change and it is recommended that you refer to the original resource in the link above.