Hi Everyone
I'm 2nd year PT student and have few questions about traveling PT.
1. What is/was your experience about traveling? What do you like or dislike about it?
2. Regarding health insurance, when you are between assignments, do you still have the health insurance through your company or does it stop?
3. Do you recommend new grad doing traveling PT in the first year?
4. what company do you recommend to sign with?
Thank you
LovePT,
I am a new graduate May 2012 and began traveling right out of the gait (graduated on the 18th, started my job the 21st). Honestly, I absolutely love the job. My favorite part about being a traveling PT is meeting all the new people, seeing vastly different parts of the country, the challenge, and learning from your new coworkers. The parts that I guess you could list as "dislike" would be that you have to be on your game when you show up for the first week or two. Travelers are hired because there is a definite shortage of therapists...so you need to hit the ground running. Making a great first impression is essential to starting everything off on a good foot. Because of that, it can be a challenge sometimes, but really it is exactly like showing up for a clinical.
Any reputable travel company should provide insurance, but it often doesn't start until mid way through the first month traveling with them. It will normally carry over for 2 week after one assignment before the benefit is dropped. If you start another assignment within those 2 weeks then insurance continues and there is no lapse of coverage. I have heard of some travelers getting their own health insurance and making sure that the travel company give you reimbursement for it (equal to what they would be paying) that way you don't go without. This is useful if you plan on switching between several travel companies or if you take more than 2 weeks between assignments.
New graduate travelers are, in my opinion, the best type of traveler. We have limited ties, have just finished multiple rotations so we are used to picking up new documentation formats quickly, and we are more flexible then a PT that has worked in one setting for a long time. With that said though, a good new graduate traveler must be confident, competent, personable, and flexible. If you have those characteristics then you can definitely do the job! Just remember, you are only competent when you graduate...becoming an expert simply takes time and experience. Let your company and the client (hospital or clinic) know that and you will do just fine!
Traveling companies are extremely abundant and because of that the review for them are difficult to find sometimes. What I did when starting was I had a multipart interview process that I made the travel companies complete for me! (I interviewed them, not the other way around!). Through this I widdled down to 3 companies and ultimately went with Aureus Medical. I will definitely be working with them for a long time to come. They have been outstanding with keeping in touch, checking in on how things are going, getting my back if a situation arises. Plus their pay, reimbursement, housing, and other benefits are the best overall package that I have seen. And they operate over all 50 states...definitely aiming for Hawaii later!
There is sooooo much to know about being a traveler and the in and outs of the whole thing. I opened a website
www.ThePTtraveler.com to give people like you a uncensored look at what it is like to be a traveling physical therapist, as well as a new graduate PT! Definitely check it out as I have tons of information on there and will answer any question honestly in my Q and A section!
www.ThePTtraveler.com
Facebook: The PT Traveler
Twitter: The_PT_Traveler
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qko3JrmhIj0[/YOUTUBE]
Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think!