Practice Act: Definitions, Scope of Practice, and Prohibited Acts
This domain tests whether you can draw the line between what a licensed physical therapist may do, what may be delegated, and what only a licensee may perform in the District. Questions here are application questions, not recitations.
Where the rules come from
DC Code Title 3, Chapter 12 (the Health Occupations Revision Act) creates the Board of Physical Therapy and the licensure scheme; 17 DCMR Chapter 67 supplies the operational detail on applications, supervision, continuing education, and discipline. Most exam items ask you to apply one of these two layers to a fact pattern.
Definitions you must be able to apply
- Practice of physical therapy - examining and evaluating movement and function, identifying impairment, and treating it through physical means: therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, physical agents and modalities, gait and balance training, and associated patient education. It includes screening, consultation, and documentation.
- Physical therapist - a person licensed under the Act, not merely a graduate of a DPT program.
- Physical therapist assistant - a licensed person who carries out selected interventions within a PT's plan of care.
- Aide or technician - unlicensed support staff with no independent patient-care authority.
- Supervision - a defined relationship: direct/on-site means the PT is physically present and immediately available; general supervision permits remote availability.
Prohibited acts
- Practicing or holding out as a PT or PTA without a DC license, or using those titles to imply licensure.
- Delegating skilled interventions to unlicensed aides.
- Aiding another person's unlicensed practice.
- Practicing beyond your education, training, or the Act's scope - for example, making a medical diagnosis or prescribing medication.
- False statements on an application or in a record; fee-splitting; practicing while impaired; ignoring a Board subpoena.
Worked example
A clinic is short-staffed. A technician applies a hot pack and sets the parameters on a TENS unit for a patient with low back pain. This is not permissible. Both are patient-care interventions that belong to the PT's plan of care and may be carried out only by the PT or, where the plan allows, a licensed PTA under supervision. The technician may prepare the equipment, position the room, and clean up afterward - non-skilled tasks - but applying the modality is unlicensed practice and exposes both the technician and the supervising PT to discipline.
Traps
Treating "PTA" and "aide" as synonyms; assuming a physician's referral expands scope; believing an out-of-state license travels to DC; forgetting that holding out is itself a violation even when no treatment occurs.