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Kristen Bentley

Technical Writing 345


Dr. James Schirmer

Task Analysis

Overview
The main goal in creating my technical document is to inform my audience members on the
career of physical therapy. My main task is to provide them with any information they would
like to obtain about this career. The following task analysis will discuss the type of information
each audience member will be looking for in my technical report and the tasks needed in order to
compose a technical document that will serve the needs of all audience members.

Information Needed
Depending on the particular audience member, each individual who reads my technical
document will be looking for different information. My task is to identify the information that
each type of audience member will be looking for and include that information in my technical
document. The following will briefly describe the information that each type of audience
member will be looking for in my report:

Individuals Already Interested in Pursuing a Career in Physical Therapy


These individuals will already have a good amount of general knowledge about this career so
they will be looking for more in depth information about what is needed in order to become a
physical and what employment for this career is like. My task will be to provide these audience
members with the following information:
 Education needed
 Licensure requirements
 Required skills
 Current employment
 Job outlook
 Earnings
 Specialty areas

Individuals Interested in Obtaining General Knowledge about Physical Therapy


These individuals are not interested in pursuing a career in physical therapy but are curious about
what this career entails and are interested in obtaining some general knowledge about the field.
My task will be to provide these audience members with the following information:
 What is physical therapy?
 What do physical therapists do?
 What type of patients do physical therapists work with?
 Where do physical therapists work?

Individuals Who Are Currently or May in the Future Undergo Physical Therapy Treatment
This audience type includes current physical therapy patients as well as individuals who may in
the future have to undergo treatment by a physical therapist. These individuals will not be
interested in any of the information about what is required to become a physical therapist, but
they will be interested in what to expect as a physical therapy patient. My task will be to provide
audience members with the following information:
 General knowledge on what physical therapy is
 General knowledge on what physical therapists do
 What to expect when going to see a physical therapist for the first time
 Treatments used by physical therapists
 Length of time different treatments usually take

Organization of Information
Now that I have identified the information that will need to be included in my technical
document, I need to find the best way to organize my information in order to complete the task
of giving my audience members all of the information they are looking to obtain. I believe that
the best way to accomplish this task is to organize my information into different sections based
on information type. Each section will be clearly labeled with a bold heading to indicate what the
reader will find in that section. I will also use bullets to format different sections of information
in order to make it easier for the audience member to read and obtain the information he or she is
looking for. I will include a table of contents in the beginning of my document so audience
members will be able to find desired information quickly and easily.

Description of Task
Following is a description of the task I am to accomplish by creating this technical document and
the tentative order it will follow:

I. Nature of the Work


a. Diagnosis and treatment of various injuries
b. Variety of therapeutic techniques used
c. Various methods of treatment
d. Type of patients
i. All ages
ii.Babies to elderly
e. Work environments
i. Outpatient clinics or offices
ii.Sports training facilities
iii.School
iv.Homes
v.Hospices

II. Training and Qualification


a. Education needed
i. Doctorate degree from accredited physical therapy program
ii.Offered at 212 colleges across country
b. Licensure requirements
i. Varies from state to state
c. Required skills
i. Perform physical exams
ii.Determine patient’s limitations
iii.Perform tests to determine things such as:
1. Range of motion
2. Reflexes
3. Neuromotor skills
iv.Management skills
v.Professional skills and values

III. Current Employment


a. Currently hold 185, 500 jobs country wide
b. 60% work in hospitals
c. Some are self-employed

IV. Job Outlook


a. Employment expected to increase
i. Projected to increase much faster than average
b. Demand expected to increase due to:
i. Increasing elderly population
ii.Baby boomer generation
iii.New medical technologies allowing people to live longer
iv.Technology being able to cure more patients
c. Increase in all work environments

V. Earnings
a. Depends on work setting
b. Average earnings: $72, 790 annually

VI. Specialty Areas


a. Orthopedic physical therapy
i. Injuries to musculoskeletal system
ii.Patients recovering from orthopedic surgeries
b. Neurological physical therapy
i. Neurological diseases
c. Geriatric physical therapy
i. Normal adult aging
ii.Focus on elderly
iii.Help improve overall health and fitness
d. Pediatric physical therapy
i. Children
ii.Various health disorders
iii.Skeletal conditions
iv.Developmental conditions
v.Neuromuscular condition
e. Cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation physical therapy
i. Cardiac surgery
ii.Pulmonary surgery
iii.Heart attack victims
VII. What Patients Can Expect
a. Review of history
b. Physical examination
i. Number of different tests:
1. Flexibility
2. Coordination
3. Strength
4. Balance
c. Diagnosis and prognosis
d. Set goals
e. Begin treatment
i. Exercise
ii.Hot/cold packs
iii.Massage
f. Length of treatment depends on specific injury

VIII. Related Occupations


a. Occupational therapists
b. Audiologists
c. Speech-language pathologists

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