To be a PT or not to be...

[TCalo]

Hi everyone,
I am at a point in my college career where I need to committ to a major, & am interested in Physical Therapy. Can anyone offer some insight on the best & worst things I should know about this job?
Thanks,
TCalo

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[fapt]

hmm
I think that you can go to the apta web site where can tell you what is the PTs you want to be.
There are some questions for you

1. Why do you want to be PT?
2. Do you have a patient with dysfunction people?
3. Do you have good communicate with orther professionals and patients (or family)?
4. What things you want to persue at your PT carrer?

That is all.....
MS PT, Taiwan

 

[DPTATC]

Hi everyone,
I am at a point in my college career where I need to committ to a major, & am interested in Physical Therapy. Can anyone offer some insight on the best & worst things I should know about this job?
Thanks,
TCalo

the best things in my opinion, are that you get to participate in the improvements in people's lives. You are able to help them regain a lost skill, functional ability, or reduce their pain. Even better, you get to teach them how to prevent future occurences of similar injuries/disabilities.

As a PT, you generally will not have a pager and won't be on call. You will be considered an expert in your area of training - movement and movement disorders.

The worst things, include often being subordinate to other medical professionals. Most of our patients are referred by an MD/DO/DDS/PA/NP who generally delegate the formal musculoskeletal eval to us BUT there are some who think that they know what we do and should do better than we do ourselves. This is usually not the case however. There is a lot of paper work (you will get this in any medical/healthcare field).

PT is rewarding, you get to spend more time with your patients and really get to share in their successes.

 

[freddydpt]

Shadow a PT... and shadow some other health professionals... PA, NP, MD, DO... if you are interested in PT because of the rehab aspect, then u might consider speech or OT... if you are interested because of the independent practitioner type role, then consider MD... if you still want manual therapy in the picture, look at DO... just give each one an equal share in observation, and you'll be able to make a good decision... its a big one, so don't rush yourself.

 

[Freeeedom!]

Shadowing is important, but sometimes gives a false view of reality...its hard to learn alot in a day. RESEARCH the fields, know them forward and backward. In reality, leave NP out as they are nurses and really has nothing to do with your desire to be a PT (unless you really want to go to nursing school).
Look at PT, ATC, and Osteopathic Medicine. Find out how long you wish to be in school, at what level you wish to practice, and what kind of patients you wish to see.
Perhaps I am biased (as I was a PT and now a DO), but DO's have the opportunity to do it all. It is hard to go wrong with either...personally I think the debt to income with physical therapy can be a bit harsh.

 

[DPTATC]

Shadowing is important, but sometimes gives a false view of reality...its hard to learn alot in a day. RESEARCH the fields, know them forward and backward. In reality, leave NP out as they are nurses and really has nothing to do with your desire to be a PT (unless you really want to go to nursing school).
Look at PT, ATC, and Osteopathic Medicine. Find out how long you wish to be in school, at what level you wish to practice, and what kind of patients you wish to see.
Perhaps I am biased (as I was a PT and now a DO), but DO's have the opportunity to do it all. It is hard to go wrong with either...personally I think the debt to income with physical therapy can be a bit harsh.

I agree with the above posts about shadowing. I have had several students spend a large part of the summer with me so that they got a good cross-section of what I do. The debt to income ration really depends upon where you go to school. I had very little debt after undergrad ($2500) because I was a trainer and a resident assistant. Then in PT school I was able to live for free with my uncle. My total debt after it was all over was only about $28000. Not too bad. Starting income ranges from 35K to 50 K . Please note that I graduated from PT school in 1991 so the numbers are different now. When I started as a PTATC my starting salary was $30k.

 

[wannabeapharm]

the best things in my opinion, are that you get to participate in the improvements in people's lives. You are able to help them regain a lost skill, functional ability, or reduce their pain. Even better, you get to teach them how to prevent future occurences of similar injuries/disabilities.

As a PT, you generally will not have a pager and won't be on call. You will be considered an expert in your area of training - movement and movement disorders.

The worst things, include often being subordinate to other medical professionals. Most of our patients are referred by an MD/DO/DDS/PA/NP who generally delegate the formal musculoskeletal eval to us BUT there are some who think that they know what we do and should do better than we do ourselves. This is usually not the case however. There is a lot of paper work (you will get this in any medical/healthcare field).

PT is rewarding, you get to spend more time with your patients and really get to share in their successes.

Could you give me some personal insight on the PT profession? I am considering it which would be a career change for me...but would liek to knwo what is it like from someone who works in it

 

[truthseeker]

Could you give me some personal insight on the PT profession? I am considering it which would be a career change for me...but would liek to knwo what is it like from someone who works in it

I work in a rural hospital. Since I am an ATC as well, my area of expertise is obviously sports medicine but 75% of my patient load is orthopedics. I find it very rewarding to have a patient come in to me with a vague diagnosis and to assess them and find the root of their problem. It is equally rewarding to have them follow the recommendations and improve.

As in any health profession, the paperwork sucks. It is not prohibitive but at the end of you work day, you may have 1 hour of stuff to finish. People sometimes ask you opinion, only to not follow it but that is rare. It is fulfilling to help people all day long. The pay is good but not spectacular. You really get to know some of your patients because of the amount of time you sometimes spend with them. You see them cry and laugh. Some you would like to play poker with and have a beer, some you would cross the street to avoid but all-in-all, the relationships are nearly as important as the clinical aspect. Don't get me wrong, bad clinical skills but good patient relations do not make them get better, but when you are able to develop a trusting relationship with your patients, they are more likely to follow your recommendations and therefore, more likely to get better and stay better.

My schedule is generally around 40 hours per week, so I get home to my family at a reasonable time and don't have to work Saturdays.

Its a good life. If you want the $$ to increase, get some experience and then go into private practice.

Is that what you were looking for?

 

[wannabeapharm]

I work in a rural hospital. Since I am an ATC as well, my area of expertise is obviously sports medicine but 75% of my patient load is orthopedics. I find it very rewarding to have a patient come in to me with a vague diagnosis and to assess them and find the root of their problem. It is equally rewarding to have them follow the recommendations and improve.

As in any health profession, the paperwork sucks. It is not prohibitive but at the end of you work day, you may have 1 hour of stuff to finish. People sometimes ask you opinion, only to not follow it but that is rare. It is fulfilling to help people all day long. The pay is good but not spectacular. You really get to know some of your patients because of the amount of time you sometimes spend with them. You see them cry and laugh. Some you would like to play poker with and have a beer, some you would cross the street to avoid but all-in-all, the relationships are nearly as important as the clinical aspect. Don't get me wrong, bad clinical skills but good patient relations do not make them get better, but when you are able to develop a trusting relationship with your patients, they are more likely to follow your recommendations and therefore, more likely to get better and stay better.

My schedule is generally around 40 hours per week, so I get home to my family at a reasonable time and don't have to work Saturdays.

Its a good life. If you want the $$ to increase, get some experience and then go into private practice.

Is that what you were looking for?

Would you suggest someone persue the MPt or DPT program? Is the salary the sam for each program? I was wondering what would be the starting avg salary?

Also, do you find being a PT to be physically demanding (liek do you lift patients or anything like that)?

this seems to be a popular field now but will it slack off in the future like some careers that were booming but no longer are?

 

[DPTATC]

Would you suggest someone persue the MPt or DPT program? Is the salary the sam for each program? I was wondering what would be the starting avg salary?

Also, do you find being a PT to be physically demanding (liek do you lift patients or anything like that)?

this seems to be a popular field now but will it slack off in the future like some careers that were booming but no longer are?

I think that the DPT is a better way to go for several reasons. 1) It is the vision of the APTA that the DPT will be the entry level degree in the near future. 2) There is more information that PTs need to know in order to be entry level providers for NMS patients and in order to safely be the providers of choice for those disorders, we must be able to recognize when something doesn't fit and to refer to the appropriate specialist. 3) My master's program did not have any coursework on business and as the profession becomes more autonomous, we will need to have some basic business skills. That was part of my DPT program. 4) There is a certain marketability to having a clinical doctorate. We will finally be recognized at the same level of education as our competitors for the orthopedic patients (the chiropractors). For years, they have been placed higher in people's minds because they are doctors of something or other and we were an ill-defined clinician (the public's view) who people where not really sure what we did. I actually had a patient ask me if I had to go to college to do what I did.

I don't see PT as particularly physical. Sometimes you do have to muscle a bedridden patient but that should be the exception rather than the rule. Most hospitals are implementing "no-lift" policies and are purchasing mechanical lifts and transfer devices so that those patients who cannot assist in their own movement are helped by machines rather than PTs and nurses, thereby reducing risk for injury to the patient and the clinician.

Average starting pay in rural Minnesota is about $50K for a new grad with a DPT or MS PT or MPT so the initial salary is not affected much by the letters behind your name (now). It may change in the future for new grads as the majority of programs confer the DPT.

The future is bright for PT in the short and long term. The population is aging, wellness is becoming more popular and recognized as preventive, older people are remaining active for longer, and PT is becoming more autonomous. Further, since it is difficult to get into PT school because of competition and small class sizes, the job market is not being glutted with too many people trying to find a finite number of patients. Compare this with Law school, large class sizes, tons of law schools, only so many jobs available.

I hope that this helps.

 

[DocWagner]

Here is my take on what LEVEL of PT grad you should pursue (from a former PT soon to be teaching at a PT school)

DPT and MPT and PT licensure examinations are the EXACT SAME. THere is no licensure differences, the test is the same.

Look at HOW MUCH TUITION IS. As a DPT really makes no different money than a MPT, there is no real incentive monitarily. In fact it may be a POOR decision monitarily as you may have additional debt as a DPT (out of control tuition with very little change in salary vs when I practiced...I made 45k 10 years ago starting out with only 5k debt....impossible today)

Transitional DPT (post graduate classes after you get your MPT) are far more focused than entry level DPT classes. You actually KNOW what you need to KNOW.

NEVER EVER follow what the APTA says, they are a political entity with little concern over your professional well being. If quality control is an issue, why not increase state to state relicensure requirements or at least yearly continuing education. The DPT is a political goal only. Without licensure or salary incentives...why pursue it? Oh, unless you have a deep desire for a clinical doctorate.


My comments are in NO WAY anti-PT. I love the profession, it was great to me and my friends...I simply have found that it has forever searched for an identity (specifically the APTA) changing from BSPT to DPT without any real reasoning. I think they turned their backs on former graduates forcing a chang in the market WITHOUT justification. Simply terrible.

 

[lawguil]

Here is my take on what LEVEL of PT grad you should pursue (from a former PT soon to be teaching at a PT school)

DPT and MPT and PT licensure examinations are the EXACT SAME. THere is no licensure differences, the test is the same.

Look at HOW MUCH TUITION IS. As a DPT really makes no different money than a MPT, there is no real incentive monitarily. In fact it may be a POOR decision monitarily as you may have additional debt as a DPT (out of control tuition with very little change in salary vs when I practiced...I made 45k 10 years ago starting out with only 5k debt....impossible today)

Transitional DPT (post graduate classes after you get your MPT) are far more focused than entry level DPT classes. You actually KNOW what you need to KNOW.

NEVER EVER follow what the APTA says, they are a political entity with little concern over your professional well being. If quality control is an issue, why not increase state to state relicensure requirements or at least yearly continuing education. The DPT is a political goal only. Without licensure or salary incentives...why pursue it? Oh, unless you have a deep desire for a clinical doctorate.


My comments are in NO WAY anti-PT. I love the profession, it was great to me and my friends...I simply have found that it has forever searched for an identity (specifically the APTA) changing from BSPT to DPT without any real reasoning. I think they turned their backs on former graduates forcing a chang in the market WITHOUT justification. Simply terrible.

Above is the best advice I've heard on this thread so far! L.

 

[wannabeapharm]

So are PT's really repsected in their field? I have been looking into this profession. Is the salary good for this or is Nursing salary better?

So I am guessing the DPT and MPT are basically the same when it comes to salary...

 

[truthseeker]

So are PT's really repsected in their field? I have been looking into this profession. Is the salary good for this or is Nursing salary better?

So I am guessing the DPT and MPT are basically the same when it comes to salary...

The salaries are the same now, but in the future when everyone else is a DPT it might change. However, the earlier post about the transitional DPT made a good point, you can do that degree program while you are working.

I recommend you look at what will make you happy rather than the salary when you compare nursing to PT. They are very different from each other.