Feeling a bit discouraged about PT after hearing a speaker today

[johncronejr]

We had a speaker come to our school for a Pre-PT club meeting today and honestly it seemed the stories, although funny, were very discouraging about what MY ideas about PT were. He talked about wound care and having to pack someones perirectal abcess, cutting away and scraping a burn patients wounds. He talked about a patient vomiting into a bowl which he then had to strain to retrieve the patients dentures. He talked about being in some really nasty houses doing home health, about unruly and defiant kids in pediatrics, about a guy's toe literally detaching from the foot in a whirlpool .

When I asked him about sports rehab, the area I am interested in, he told me how unbelievably competitive that field is, that it seems everyone wants to be in sports med. He said that in a small state such as we are from that the sports PT business is a very rough one to make a living in.

Geee, that lecture just left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Is this the life that so many of us will be facing when we get out of PT school? Perhaps some of you already knew this and look forward to it, but this is not what I was looking forward to.

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[dny22]

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[MinnDasota]

Keep your head up. You shouldn't have trouble finding ortho/sports jobs if you make sure you secure good clinicals in this area while in PT school. You would probably have a better idea of sports PT from someone that works in sports vs. wound care. Hope that helps a little.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

We had a speaker come to our school for a Pre-PT club meeting today and honestly it seemed the stories, although funny, were very discouraging about what MY ideas about PT were. He talked about wound care and having to pack someones perirectal abcess, cutting away and scraping a burn patients wounds. He talked about a patient vomiting into a bowl which he then had to strain to retrieve the patients dentures. He talked about being in some really nasty houses doing home health, about unruly and defiant kids in pediatrics, about a guy's toe literally detaching from the foot in a whirlpool .

When I asked him about sports rehab, the area I am interested in, he told me how unbelievably competitive that field is, that it seems everyone wants to be in sports med. He said that in a small state such as we are from that the sports PT business is a very rough one to make a living in.

Geee, that lecture just left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Is this the life that so many of us will be facing when we get out of PT school? Perhaps some of you already knew this and look forward to it, but this is not what I was looking forward to.

reading that kinda made me want to vomit a little myself.

yeah I have zero desire to go into any of those - I'm an orthopod. Or neuro. Not so much with the inpatient and acute, but I know I'll have to do a clinical on it.....my opinion is PTs aren't paid enough to do that kinda thing. lol. When I was shadowing an inpatient PT an orthopatient (day 1 post-op total knee) was throwing up because of her pain meds. I really cannot deal with vomit and had to leave the room (big reason why med school was out of the question for me). I'm really hoping for my inpatient to be like neuro and peds combined. That I could do!

Oh! But ortho isn't all glorified either. At my outpatient (mainly) sports clinic, I was talking with a PT about women's health (I was bored one day and looking through the PT's women's health specialization binder), and my lord some of what the PTs have to do is worse than any gyno visit (another big reason why I'm not going to med school is my lack of desire to ever have to perform a gyno, hernia, or rectal exam. no thanks). Although that's a specialization, so not everyone has to do it.

BUT another PT I work with, first year out of school, has a patient who she has to do coccyx mobilizations on....internally. She told me she wears like 3-4 pairs of gloves. I don't even know how that would work, nor do I care to. Again, so not what I ever thought a PT would have to do, but I guess you learn something new every day! Maybe I'll be absent that day of lecture in PT school.

Sidenote: in that women's health binder was a CEU course description and it talks about how the PTs have to be prepared to play the role of the PT and the patient...and if you're a male PT you have to hire a "model" to be the patient for when it's your partner's turn to be the PT....or if a woman PT doesn't want to be the patient she can hire a model too....can you imagine how the "help wanted" job ad must read for that position? I hope it pays well! It also specifically says that menstruation is not a contraindication....seriously? lol.

 

[PMC85]

"BUT another PT I work with, first year out of school, has a patient who she has to do coccyx mobilizations on....internally. She told me she wears like 3-4 pairs of gloves. I don't even know how that would work, nor do I care to"

I would refer this patient to a chiro

 

[lee9786]

I wonder how long this guy has worked doing this? My guess is that it's been a while. I don't see all that happening in a week.

I think it depends on where you are living. In my little town the one outpatient PT also rotates with inpatient and wound care. So I've accepted the fact that I could very well be doing the exact same thing. So I hang out with him in wound care and see some pretty awful stuff in attempts to desensitize the senses. I've never seen a perirectal abcess though. Not that I'm complaining. I think I'd sit that one out.

One PT I talked to stated she vowed to never work in the hospital setting. She then presumed to state that her first job was at the hospital. She's since moved on to outpatient ortho.

One thing to think about, I wonder how many people looking to get into this field are doing it upon the base of wanting to work in sports PT. This is where the competitive concept comes in. The reason being is the supply of workers is greater than the demand. Basic supply and demand concepts decrease the availability of the jobs and the pay.

The job that's there today might not be tomorrow the way the healthcare climate is. We've already seen the medicare caps go into effect and with it the 11 percent net decrease for medicare B payments along with it. The medicare B is tied in which many outpatient orthopedic billing codes. Some believe private health insurance is going to struggle with influx of more competition and regulation and will be looking to make cuts. Anthem Blue Cross, a private health insurer, in California has cut services to where 75 dollars reimburses the entire rehab plan (evaluation and treatment.) They basically gave PTs a take it or leave it stance and threatened to make it 25 dollars. The PT protests seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

So long story short I think it would be a good idea to broaden your horizens if you want to enter this field. Unless you feel you can pay off your student loans in a cash-based PT practice, you'll be subjected to these types of third party reimbursements. I've already accepted that I'll most likely be doing a lot of things nobody wants to do.

 

[atstudent]

yeah I have zero desire to go into any of those - I'm an orthopod. Or neuro. Not so much with the inpatient and acute, but I know I'll have to do a clinical on it.....my opinion is PTs aren't paid enough to do that kinda thing. lol.

I'll bet the people you would expect to do those types of jobs make less money than PT's do.

 

[helloteenah]

Did he say anything positive?
Way to sell the profession? Jk. It is good that he is honest, but I hope he didn't make everyone believe it is like that everyday.

 

[DPT ATC]

yeah I have zero desire to go into any of those - I'm an orthopod. Or neuro.

suggestion for you, don't ever call yourself an orthopod unless you are orthopedic surgeon.

 

[artizzle]

It seems that the majority of PTs work in the outpatient orthopedic setting, so working in the hospital or wound care isn't a necessity after school. However, you do have to learn about and experience different settings and I think that everyone should keep an open mind... or at least refrain from telling your clinical instructor that you have no desire whatsoever to head into his/her field.

 

[DPTinFL]

FYI
One of my instructors told me that the only people allow to do wound care are PTs and MDs. Nurses are only allowed to change dressings. PTs and MDs are the only ones allowed to use a scalpel to debride the wound. It is an easy job for retired PTs.

 

[lee9786]

FYI
One of my instructors told me that the only people allow to do wound care are PTs and MDs. Nurses are only allowed to change dressings. PTs and MDs are the only ones allowed to use a scalpel to debride the wound. It is an easy job for retired PTs.

In my state PTAs can also perform wound care. The one PTA at the local hospital pretty much exclusively does wound care. He's not really the extrovert type.