Tawny Chamberlain & Shannon Herrin, Program Directors for the Richmond & Austin PTA Program with South University, come onto HET Podcast to talk about an overview of PTA education. They discuss PTA program structure, issues & solutions to PTA education, the PTA program accrediting process, barriers from being a PTA program director, and much more.

Shannon’s Email Address: sherrin@southuniversity.edu  

Tawny’s Email Address: tachamberlain@southuniversity.edu  

South University Richmond PTA Program Website: https://www.southuniversity.edu/richmond/areas-of-study/physical-therapist-assistant/physical-therapist-assistant-associate-of-applied-science-aas 

South University Austin PTA Program Website: https://www.southuniversity.edu/austin/areas-of-study/physical-therapist-assistant/physical-therapist-assistant-associate-of-science-as 

APTA’s Career Resources for PTAs: http://www.apta.org/PTA/Careers/ 

APTA’s Section on PTA Patient Care & Supervision: http://www.apta.org/PTA/PatientCare/ 

PTA Special Interest Groups: http://www.apta.org/PTA/SIG/ 

The Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education Website: http://www.capteonline.org/home.aspx 

The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy Website: http://www.fsbpt.org/ 

APTE Leadership (PTA Educator SIG): https://aptaeducation.org/about-education-section/leadership.cfm 

The PTA Tapes Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pta-tapes-behind-the-scenes-of-physical-therapy/id1356100623?mt=2 

The PT Hustle Website: https://www.thepthustle.com/ 

Schedule an Appointment with Kyle Rice: www.passtheptboards.com   

HET LITE Tool: www.pteducator.com/het      Anywhere Healthcare: https://anywhere.healthcare/ (code: HET)     Biographies:  

Dr. Tawny Chamberlain and Dr. Shannon Herrin serve as the Department Chairs for South University’s eleven (11) PTA programs, as well as the program directors for the Richmond and Austin campuses, respectively. Prior to joining the University in 2011, Tawny primarily practiced in acute and subacute settings and recently became a Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Geriatric Physical Therapy (GCS). Shannon practiced in outpatient orthopedics and aquatics for 12 years and supervised a large, private outpatient clinic in SW Austin before moving into education.

Together, Tawny and Shannon have worked tirelessly to refine program curriculum while creating and streamlining programmatic policies. Additionally, they are responsible for the assessment and accreditation processes system-wide. Since the inception of their programs, Tawny and Shannon have received consistent feedback from clinical faculty, academic faculty across campuses, and other PTA educators regarding the importance of professionalism in PTA education.

In response, their program curricula was designed with professional behavior as a cornerstone. APTA’s Values-Based Behaviors for the Physical Therapist Assistant is threaded throughout the curriculum, along with student self-assessment and formal assessment of professional behaviors by clinical and academic faculty.

In February of 2017, they presented at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting (CSM): Professionalism in PTA Education: Help Students Get Hired Instead of Fired. Finally, they are both podcast rookies!