How to Become a Physical Therapist in Louisiana

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2,270 Physical Therapists practiced in Louisiana in 2013. Their median salary was $78,330. Eight hundred and sixty Physical Therapy Assistants practiced in the state that year, and they earned an average of $43,220.

The Louisiana Physical Therapy Board (LBPT) licenses and regulates the PT professionals in the state with the goal of protecting the state’s citizens. Here are the steps you need to take to become a Physical Therapist or Physical Therapy Assistant in Louisiana:
Physical Therapy Assistant:

  • Meet the basic requirements to apply for a license.
  • Earn a Physical Therapy Assistant Associate’s degree from an accredited program.
  • Apply for your Louisiana Physical Therapy Assistant license.
  • Apply to take the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE).
  • Arrange a personal interview.
  • Meet your continuing education requirements.

Physical Therapist:

  • Meet the basic requirements to apply for a license.
  • Earn at least a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy from an accredited program.
  • Apply for your Louisiana Physical Therapist license.
  • Apply to take the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE).
  • Arrange a personal interview.
  • Meet your continuing education requirements.

Step 1: Meet Louisiana’s Requirements to Practice Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy Assistant

You must meet the following requirements before you can apply for a license to become a Physical Therapy Assistant in Louisiana:

  • Be at least 19 years old
  • Be a U.S. citizen
  • Be of good moral character

Physical Therapist

These are the requirements to apply for your license to become a Physical Therapist in Louisiana:

  • Be at least 21 years old
  • Be a U.S. citizen
  • Be of good moral character

Step 2: Complete Your Physical Therapy Degree

Physical Therapy Assistant

The LBPT requires that you get your Physical Therapy Assistant degree from a CAPTE (Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy) approved school. You can obtain either an Associate of Applied Science or an Associate of Science in Physical Therapist Assisting from these Louisiana colleges:

  • Bossier Parish Community College
  • Delgado Community College
  • Louisiana College
  • Our Lady of the Lake College

Physical Therapist

The state of Louisiana requires that you earn at least a Bachelor’s degree from an approved school to become a Physical Therapist in the state. However, the two CAPTE (Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy) approved universities that offer PT degrees in Louisiana offer Doctoral degrees in this field. You can obtain such a degree from the following two universities:

  • Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center—New Orleans
  • Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center—Shreveport

Step 3: Apply for Your Louisiana License to Practice Physical Therapy

Your next step to become a Physical Therapy professional in Louisiana is to submit a completed application form to the LPTB. You must fill out your form on a computer, since the LPTB will not accept handwritten application forms.

You must provide the following items with your application:

  • A $200 application fee (money order or cashier’s check)
  • Recent passport type color photo approximately 2” x 2”
  • Certificate form signed by the Dean or Registrar of your school
  • A copy of your diploma

If you have changed your name, you must submit a notarized copy of your marriage certificate or an official affidavit indicating your legal name change.

Step 4: Apply to Take the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE)

You will need to pass the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) to get Louisiana licensure to practice in physical therapy. You will take either the Physical Therapy or the Physical Therapist Assistant exam.

Your first step towards taking the exam is to register for it online. The LPTB will then review your educational achievements to determine whether you are eligible to take it. If you do not yet have your degree, but will have it by the time of the exam, you can have your school send a letter to the board. They need to certify that you will be receiving a PT or PTA degree on a specified date.

Once you have been approved, the board will notify you by email. Your next step is to retrieve your Authorization to Test letter from the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) website. This letter will have an authorization code and the information to schedule your exam at a Prometric Testing Center.

Once you have taken the NPTE, the LPTB will send you an email to notify you if you have passed. If you have not passed, you must submit another license application and register to take the exam again. If you fail four times, you will have to go back to school and repeat an accredited education program.

Graduates of approved Louisiana Physical Therapy programs have high pass rates for the NPTE. From 2010 to 2012, 98.86 to 100% of the Physical Therapy graduates passed their PT exam. The pass rates for Physical Therapist Assistant graduates ranged from 93.33% to 100% during that time frame.

Provisional License. If you are unable to take the NPTE because it is only offered on limited fixed dates, you can apply for a 90 day Provisional License. This will permit you to practice as a Physical Therapist or Physical Therapy Assistant while being supervised.

You can only get this license once, and you have to schedule to take the exam before your license expires. This license is not an option when the test is offered on demand or on a continuous basis.

Step 5: Arrange Your Personal Interview

Before you can become a PT professional in Louisiana, you need to be interviewed by a LPTB representative. After you have passed your exam and all of your documentation is complete, the LPTB will email you with the name and contact information of your representative.

It is your responsibility to contact the representative to schedule your interview at least one week before you are scheduled to begin work. You can ask for it to be in one of the following cities:

  • Alexandria
  • Baton Rouge
  • Lafayette
  • Lake Charles
  • Monroe
  • New Orleans
  • Shreveport

You should be prepared to bring your original diploma with you to the interview.

Step 6: Meet Your Continuing Education Requirements

You must complete at least 30 hours of approved continuing education activities or courses when you apply for your two year renewal. You cannot carry over hours from one renewal period to the next.

The LPTB requires the following categories for you to renew your license:

  • Jurisprudence: at least 2 hours
  • Ethics or Professionalism: at least 2 hours
  • Clinical/Preventive: at least 18 hours

In addition, you can take up to 8 hours of administrative topics. You can substitute additional clinical/preventive hours for these topics. Excluding the jurisprudence requirement, you can only obtain 15 hours of continuing education through online courses, home study, or other types of distance learning.

You need to keep a record of your continuing education activities and report them to the board with your license renewal application. Your records should include:

  • Dates
  • Duration of the program
  • Subjects
  • Certificates of participation and completion

If you are new to the profession of Physical Therapy, you may want to join the Louisiana Physical Therapy Association. In addition to networking opportunities and educational offerings, it offers a list of job postings in Louisiana.

Sources:

http://www.apta.org/

http://laptboard.org/