How long did you stay at your first PT job?

[BlueBlue8]

A year? More? Less?

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[NewDPT31]

A year? More? Less?

4 months. second job 8 months. Then when my lease was over moved. Been at this job for 13 months with no signs of stopping. several of my friends did the same. If you hate your job or disagree with it like I did(4-6 patients at a time)....then leave. We are too in demand to stay in a job that you don't like. Good luck

 

[BlueBlue8]

Thanks for answering. I'm three months into my first job, mixture of outpatient and inpatient.

I don't dislike the job (although admittedly I don't really care for orthopedic inpatient) necessarily. I'm hourly so right now it is so slow that I am not even making full paychecks. Bad thing is that I'm locked into an apartment lease (I moved from out of state). I also stupidly accepted sign-on bonus money which means I would owe them money if I leave before my time is up. They want a total of two years.

Has anyone accepted sign-on bonus money?

I'm just not crazy about this city.

 

[NewTestament]

Which city?

 

[jesspt]

Thanks for answering. I'm three months into my first job, mixture of outpatient and inpatient.

I don't dislike the job (although admittedly I don't really care for orthopedic inpatient) necessarily. I'm hourly so right now it is so slow that I am not even making full paychecks. Bad thing is that I'm locked into an apartment lease (I moved from out of state). I also stupidly accepted sign-on bonus money which means I would owe them money if I leave before my time is up. They want a total of two years.

Has anyone accepted sign-on bonus money?

I'm just not crazy about this city.

Why don't you try to pick up some home health patients with a local agency to make up for the lost income. If you end up liking it, you may make enough in a short amount of time to repay your singing bonus and move should you still wish to.

 

[callmecrazy]

13 months, but I switched because my ideal employer was hiring. They rarely have openings, so I had to jump on it when I could, whether I was 13 months into my job or 3. I do think you should have a solid, well researched idea of what you do want before changing jobs.

 

[DrRehab]

i'm just over 12 months at my job. I started at an oupatient mill, which wasn't realized until i was fully hired. I stayed at the job just 3 weeks.

 

[truthseeker]

5 years

 

[DesertPT]

i'm just over 12 months at my job. I started at an oupatient mill, which wasn't realized until i was fully hired. I stayed at the job just 3 weeks.

I seem to see mention of these outpatient mills fairly frequently on the forum. Do you think that this style is becoming more common? Is this the way of the future for OP PT?

The outpatient ortho clinic at which I have been a patient a number of times was certainly not a mill...I spent 25-30 minutes w/ the PT and1.5-2 hrs. with the trainers each visit....usually only 2-4 patients in the clinic at a time. Sometimes it was just me...I did always go in the late afternoon, but still...I wonder if it is just too hard to make any money at a more nicely paced clinic like that.

 

[Sheldon]

I seem to see mention of these outpatient mills fairly frequently on the forum. Do you think that this style is becoming more common? Is this the way of the future for OP PT?

The outpatient ortho clinic at which I have been a patient a number of times was certainly not a mill...I spent 25-30 minutes w/ the PT and1.5-2 hrs. with the trainers each visit....usually only 2-4 patients in the clinic at a time. Sometimes it was just me...I did always go in the late afternoon, but still...I wonder if it is just too hard to make any money at a more nicely paced clinic like that.

I currently work in a clinic with 3 other PTs and 2 OTs. Our evals are an hour. Follow-up visits are 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on many things. Everything is 1:1; no dove-tailing, no double-booking, no concurrent treatments no matter the payor source. I see 10-14 patients a day depending on the mix of follow-ups and new patient evals, 5 days a week. We are busy, but by no means a patient mill. Those clinics where one PT is bouncing between 2-3 patients are EXTREMELY suspect.

 

[jblil]

Sheldon - that certainly sounds like a good place to work at. I hope I'll be able to find a similar clinic when I graduate.

 

[BlueBlue8]

I live in a conservative college town, but I work in a rural city. I was just curious what other people did. Thanks!

 

[pursue]

Thats nice to hear I was wondering about the future of outpatient ortho in regards to mills

 

[VeloDPT]

I work for a large hospital-based health system in OP and we see patients 100% 1-on-1, no PTAs, no techs/aides, private treatment rooms, 45 minute treatments and evals all the time, every time. Yes, this is rare and I consider myself extremely lucky to be where I'm at. It is sad that too many clinics now are throwing patients around mill-style. In my opinion, our profession is all about quality patient care. There are really only a small percentage of patients who will make full (and timely) recoveries in these mill type clinics: those who require very minimal cueing with exercise and those who need little to no manual therapy. I have only been working a short while as I recently finished PT school, however, I made sure I took my time and did my homework while job searching after graduation. It took some hard work and a little bit of luck but I wouldn't trade the feeling of looking forward to going to work every morning for anything.

 

[jesspt]

I seem to see mention of these outpatient mills fairly frequently on the forum. Do you think that this style is becoming more common? Is this the way of the future for OP PT?

The outpatient ortho clinic at which I have been a patient a number of times was certainly not a mill...I spent 25-30 minutes w/ the PT and1.5-2 hrs. with the trainers each visit....usually only 2-4 patients in the clinic at a time. Sometimes it was just me...I did always go in the late afternoon, but still...I wonder if it is just too hard to make any money at a more nicely paced clinic like that.

If they were charging your insurance for the 1.5 -2 hours you were with the trainer, they're just using that time to compensate for the lack of volume. It doesn't look like a mill, but the ethics behind it may be just as questionable.

 

[jesspt]

I currently work in a clinic with 3 other PTs and 2 OTs. Our evals are an hour. Follow-up visits are 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on many things. Everything is 1:1; no dove-tailing, no double-booking, no concurrent treatments no matter the payor source. I see 10-14 patients a day depending on the mix of follow-ups and new patient evals, 5 days a week. We are busy, but by no means a patient mill. Those clinics where one PT is bouncing between 2-3 patients are EXTREMELY suspect.

Sheldon,

Are you saying that you think you would be unable to see some patients concurrently and still provide quality, evidence-informed care?

As you allude to above, there are many variables that can effect how to appropriately schedule patients that still allow for good care and can improve productivity. Most posters on this site get caught up solely on the amount of time they get to spend 1:1 with the patient.

 

[DesertPT]

If they were charging your insurance for the 1.5 -2 hours you were with the trainer, they're just using that time to compensate for the lack of volume. It doesn't look like a mill, but the ethics behind it may be just as questionable.

I have no way of knowing what they were charging my insurance for, I just pay a copay. Perhaps they charged a different rate for time spent with trainers than with the PT.

 

[jesspt]

I have no way of knowing what they were charging my insurance for, I just pay a copay. Perhaps they charged a different rate for time spent with trainers than with the PT.

Sure you do - you should have gotten an EOB which would explain exactly what they charged you, the contracted rate with your insurance company and what, if anything, you were financially responsible for.