Changing Practice Settings

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freshchineselumpia

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I am currently employed at an SNF as this was the only job opportunity available to me right after I passed the NPTE( not to mention my family needed the money too.) however, I am thinking of applying to an outpatient orthopedic/ sports setting once I have about a year of clinical experience. Is moving from an SNF to an orthopedic setting possible or am I at a dead end? I've heard that if you worked at an SNF you'd have trouble getting jobs at other settings cause working in an SNF makes you lose some of your skills as a PT. Id really appreciate your insights and experiences. Thanks.

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I went the other way, kind of. I worked at an outpatient ortho clinic for 5 years, then moved to a rural hospital. I thought I lost some IP and SNF skills moving that way but ended up OK. IMHO if you stay in the SNF for a long time, you will likely lose some skills. If you are thinking of changing, sooner is better but you should be OK after only a year.
 
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My first job out of school was OP ortho. After a few months hating the company because I would see 4-6 patients at a time, I quit that and moved to a SNF. The pace and skillset are completely different. Ortho is much more specific with injuries and what not, but SNF you have to know much more medical stuff. After a year I moved back to sweet home chicago and I had a hard time the first month getting back into the flow of a clinic. For one, the population is different. you go from helping a 90 year old with a broken hip get out of bed to a whiny 16 year old who doesnt do their HEP and wants to play with their phone. Or the soccer mom with 10000 questions. And it's stacked all day between 12-15 patients. The PT knowledge will come back pretty quickly(i studied for a few weeks before returning), but the hardest part is adapting back to that setting.
This is why, if I'm working SNF for my primary job, I do PRN OP ortho; and vice versa. Always gotta keep the skills fresh.
 
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I did the same thing as the OP for the same reasons and had the same concerns. I kept current with the ortho world (as it was at time, and still is, my true passion but needed the money SNFs provided). I read every JOSPT and PTJ as each came out each month and took part in con ed courses. Stay up-to-date with the current evidence and find a mentor in the clinic. You will adjust quickly. Good luck OP.
 
I went the other way, kind of. I worked at an outpatient ortho clinic for 5 years, then moved to a rural hospital. I thought I lost some IP and SNF skills moving that way but ended up OK. IMHO if you stay in the SNF for a long time, you will likely lose some skills. If you are thinking of changing, sooner is better but you should be OK after only a year.

Thank you so much for the input. initially I was planning to leave after 6 months but I didnt wanted to be labeled as a disloyal employee. As I remember my boss telling me about how disappointed he was with one of his previous hires for bolting after 6 months to do OP PT. Hopefully, I can make it through a year though. ;)
 
My first job out of school was OP ortho. After a few months hating the company because I would see 4-6 patients at a time, I quit that and moved to a SNF. The pace and skillset are completely different. Ortho is much more specific with injuries and what not, but SNF you have to know much more medical stuff. After a year I moved back to sweet home chicago and I had a hard time the first month getting back into the flow of a clinic. For one, the population is different. you go from helping a 90 year old with a broken hip get out of bed to a whiny 16 year old who doesnt do their HEP and wants to play with their phone. Or the soccer mom with 10000 questions. And it's stacked all day between 12-15 patients. The PT knowledge will come back pretty quickly(i studied for a few weeks before returning), but the hardest part is adapting back to that setting.
This is why, if I'm working SNF for my primary job, I do PRN OP ortho; and vice versa. Always gotta keep the skills fresh.

Thank you for taking the time to give a good picture of both settings. Do you feel that in OP clinics your treatment is limited to some extent considering youre stacked with so many patients/hr? How many hours do you usually work in a week as a PRN?
 
I did the same thing as the OP for the same reasons and had the same concerns. I kept current with the ortho world (as it was at time, and still is, my true passion but needed the money SNFs provided). I read every JOSPT and PTJ as each came out each month and took part in con ed courses. Stay up-to-date with the current evidence and find a mentor in the clinic. You will adjust quickly. Good luck OP.

Thank you for the advice I'll surely keep that in mind. Our DOR requires us to do monthly CEUs so I think that could help as well. I did apply to an OP facility but was only offered $15/hr (as i had no previous experience) that offered some mentorship along the way(an offer which I felt was a little insulting). Even if ortho is my area of interest I had to turn it down for a SNF job which was much closer to my place and had a higher pay. Does mentorship always mean lower than normal salary? Also, did you find any of the skills you used/learned at a SNF applicable in the OP setting?:)
 
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No it doesn't mean lower salary
 
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$15/hr for a DPT grad??? (OP - I assume you have a DPT). Do you live in an area saturated with new grads?
 
I did apply to an OP facility but was only offered $15/hr (as i had no previous experience)

Was this place joking with you or something? The national average salary for dump truck drivers is around $16.50...
 
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Is that mentorship in the form of a residency? That's the only possible way I could imagine them being able to justify that abysmal pay.
 
Thank you for the advice I'll surely keep that in mind. Our DOR requires us to do monthly CEUs so I think that could help as well. I did apply to an OP facility but was only offered $15/hr (as i had no previous experience) that offered some mentorship along the way(an offer which I felt was a little insulting). Even if ortho is my area of interest I had to turn it down for a SNF job which was much closer to my place and had a higher pay. Does mentorship always mean lower than normal salary? Also, did you find any of the skills you used/learned at a SNF applicable in the OP setting?:)

That's ridiculous, OP ortho does pay less but you shouldn't except any offer less than $65k as a DPT. The private practice clinics will always try to get away with paying as low as possible but it's up to us as professionals to uphold standards, salary included. This is one reason why ATCs get paid so little (I am one, BTW), bc there is always someone else willing to accept a low ball salary offer.
 
Was this place joking with you or something? The national average salary for dump truck drivers is around $16.50...

Wow... Some of our aides make more than $15/hr. I'm thinking there is more to this story. And I agree, residents usually gets paid a lot more than that.
 
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