Physical Therapy Assistant Forum - PTA or OTA or LPN...: Hi, quick little intro 30 y.o. bachelor ...

Hi, quick little intro 30 y.o. bachelor of science in justice & law admin. Have 8 yrs of hospital tech experience from EMS to OR to Anesthesia to Sterile Processing to Psych. Been doing psych for 5 yrs now. Current work load consist of 3 to 4 patients assigned to in a day. Usually interview patient's, chart on their progress, determine their safety on the unit, and work on educating them on coping mechanisms. Then I facilitate 1 to 2 groups a week on daily goals and skills groups. Then assist patients with ADLS or work with social work in assisting patients in finding rehabs or places to stay. Do have and utilizing nursing support skills such as EKGs, glucose checks, Vitals, and blood draws. I applied twice to an RN program an have been waitlisted. If I did get in i have to scale down work and hope work be flexible. That is the drawback to the RN programs here no part time programs or evening programs in my State. The LPN program is part time and evening program, but have to hope work can be flexible with schedule. By flexible work 2 16s and 1 8 Friday through Sunday for two years. Since the program is 5 to 10. I get home from work by 430 at the latest. Other option was the PTA program. It's an inexpensive program, $10,000 less than the LPN program. Only downside is the 4th semester of the program requires a full time internship. I can't quit work! Right now work 3 different shifts a week. I could get my EMT cert eventually find a night job during that point. The other downside with the PTA program is there isn't much advancement outside of management. There is one PTA to OT program not too far from where I live, which is a plus. The other option is the OTA program. There is only 1 State run OTA Program in the State and it's 40 Miles away from where I live/80 round trip.