Physical Therapy Scope Of Practice

As a professional, one must adhere to the guiding principles defined by the professional association. Scope of Practice outlines the “notions of professional conduct, accountability and self- governance and expanded practice”. Scope of Practice summarizes “the range of roles and activities an individual registrant or licensee is permitted to undertake in the course of professional practice. These roles and activities are largely determined by professional education and practice competence along with factors in the practice context, such as demands on practitioners’ services and available resources” (Fealy 2005). Scope of Practice is based upon the “profession 's unique body of knowledge, supported by educational preparation, a body of evidence, and existing or emerging practice frameworks” (American Physical Therapy Association, 2015). Clinical practice of professions rely heavily on the Scope of Practice of their profession. Although Speech Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy are all clinical professions, the document outlining their Scope of Practice varies.

APTA Scope of Practice is not condensed to one document, therefore it is difficult to locate all the necessary information. The Scope of Practice is a webpage made up of many links to various subsections of the document. In the Scope of Practice overview, it provides basic knowledge as to what physical therapy is, where physical therapists treat, and disorders physical therapists treat. The Scope of Practice for physical therapy includes physical therapist assistants in the scope of practice (American Physical Therapy Association,