Justin Forbes

Watching my mother participate in physical therapy following her shoulder surgery, coincidentally with one of my then-future and now-retired professors at Penn College (Dr. Mary T. Stout, PT, DPT), inspired me to pursue a career as a physical therapist assistant.

Serving as a Clinical Instructor for Penn College’s PTA program has had one of the most significant impacts on my career as a PTA. My first student was a now-alumna from the PTA Class of 2024 for her Level 2A Clinical Experience. She entered this clinical experience at our facility with a strong knowledge of the didactic content, but she exhibited hesitancy in her confidence of executing her hands-on skills. I had her practice various hands-on treatment interventions from day one to give her as much time as possible to fine-tune her skills. As a result, her confidence level and execution of her hands-on skills significantly improved over the course of the six-week clinical experience.

If you are considering a career as a PTA, I would strongly recommend pursuing the opportunity as it can be a very fulfilling career. From a PTA clinician’s perspective, there is no better feeling than watching a patient thrive in physical therapy and accomplish their established goals to ultimately improve their overall quality of life. It is humbling to know that I played a role in assisting that patient achieve that success.

The curriculum of the PTA program, coupled with the tremendous amount of support from my professors, provided me with the necessary fundamentals that instilled increased confidence in myself as an entry-level clinician. I have since continued to build upon that strong educational foundation in my day-to-day work as I became a lifelong learner upon entering the physical therapy profession, since it has and will continue to evolve through evidence-based research and practice.

Each of my mentors and supervisors has had different educational and employment experiences throughout their respective careers, so I have been able to learn about different topics from each of them throughout the course of my own career. In addition, they have provided me with constructive feedback as appropriate to enable me to enhance my own skills and deliver treatment interventions of the highest possible quality to our patients.

Working in a senior living community or a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) allows me to have a positive impact, both emotionally and physically, on the patients in our facility. I have opportunities where I can help brighten up a patient’s day, whether it is by helping them achieve improved functional mobility or being someone that they can share a meaningful conversation with. Every patient’s case is different for a plethora of reasons, but we work in what is ultimately their home. These positive interactions mean a great deal to our patients to enable them to have an improved quality of life.