PT, OT, SLP, Aud to MD/DO?

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Me me me!!! I can't believe I actually found one like me!!

Occupational Therapist going back to med school...

And you??

😍
 
I just left my job at an LTACH on Friday to go back to school full time this semester to finish my pre-reqs and "be more competitive" with a couple of extra higher level bio classes, per my pre-med advisor.

Because, as an allied health professional, a lot of our higher level classes (Gross, Neuroanatomy, Pharmacology) don't count towards our BCPM GPA. 😡 Have you guys found a prob with that as well??

Prior to the LTACH, I was at a rehab hospital.

And you?

And, I'm very curious, why medicine for you now??
 
I'm a PT in med school (DO). Your backgrounds will be huge assets to you!

-J
 
im an audiologist (actually future audiologist) thinking about med school
 
What made you all interested in going to medical school rather than staying in your allied health career?
 
Because respiratory therapists are by and large a terribly insecure group and the field is filled with nursing school dropouts. The problem with the field is that our "union" (the AARC) is concerned with reimbursements and can't seem to realize that a lot of people are leaving the field because of a debate over credentialing (there are two levels of RT with no difference in what they are allowed to do in most places).

Also I want autonomy and I don't want to be sucking snot and giving neb treatments for the rest of my life.
 
Megboo said:
Yeah, a lot of my upper-level "science" won't count. I took several independent studies during my Ph.D. program that were on neuroscience and aphasia, but since they are COMD independent courses, they will count as "other".

Anyway, I have a private practice right now. It's getting busy, but at least I can make time for my classes in the evening.
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i wouldn't be so sure that your courses won't count. i was a comm sciences and disorders major in undergrad, and just about all of my csd courses were accepted by amcas for my science gpa. this included my independent studies in both developmental cognitive neuroscience and laryngeal phsyiology research. off the top of my head, amcas did not accept psychoacoustics for science gpa, but they did accept acoustics as a "physics" course. pm me if you'd like and i can dig up my transcript and let you know exactly which courses i was able to use for my science gpa. best of luck. if i wasn't pursuing medicine, i'd go for the AuD - very interesting stuff.
 
jlw said:
Would you take a clinical social worker in private practice?
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Hi jlw9698,

Good to know of another mental health professional going into medicine.
I'm a clinical psychologist going into med in order to become a psychiatrist; r u thinking of going into psychiatry as well?

Peace. 🙂
 
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Megboo said:
Yeah, a lot of my upper-level "science" won't count. I took several independent studies during my Ph.D. program that were on neuroscience and aphasia, but since they are COMD independent courses, they will count as "other".

Anyway, I have a private practice right now. It's getting busy, but at least I can make time for my classes in the evening.
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Congrats on the practice picking up!

Most of my classes were more in the social sciences range, so there's very little that will go into the BCMP pool. Statistics ("Research Methods"), I'm sure.. plus I was pre-med when I started undergrad, so I do have previous bio, chem, and calc grades to contend with. I won't be retaking calc (I 😍 my C) because I could never pass it now, but have taken the others again to raise my GPA and as a refresher.

The private practice is one of the best decisions I ever made, although I was really scared at first- I'm about at capacity right now which is so unbelieveable to me. When I was still employed elsewhere, I wanted to take all evening classes, but my school offers all the evening prereq sections at exactly the same time on exactly the same day each semester. So now that I can flex my schedule however I want, I take one day class 2 days a week and go see clients in the evening, and reverse that on the other 2 days- clients, then school. Fridays are for "me time" or I work PRN at one of our hospitals.
 
sasevan said:
Hi jlw9698,

Good to know of another mental health professional going into medicine.
I'm a clinical psychologist going into med in order to become a psychiatrist; r u thinking of going into psychiatry as well?

Peace. 🙂
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It's certainly on the radar, but I want to consider other options. I want to be able to integrate what I do now, and psych is the most obvious. But there are other cool things, too, like forensic peds specializing in child abuse... so many options! I keep telling people "Just help get me in! I can decide later!"

good luck to you- PM me if you want!
 
jlw said:
It's certainly on the radar, but I want to consider other options. I want to be able to integrate what I do now, and psych is the most obvious. But there are other cool things, too, like forensic peds specializing in child abuse... so many options! I keep telling people "Just help get me in! I can decide later!"

good luck to you- PM me if you want!
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That sounds promising; child and adolescent psych may provide similar opprtunities.
How far r u in the process?
I hope to take MCAT this April and (hopefully) enter med school in Fall of 07.
 
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sasevan said:
That sounds promising; child and adolescent psych may provide similar opprtunities.
How far r u in the process?
I hope to take MCAT this April and (hopefully) enter med school in Fall of 07.
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I'll be a year behind you- MCAT spring '07

I'm mixed on child/adol psych. The demand is definitely there, and I've seen several guys in my area transition from hospital-based to cash-only private practice quite successfully. The trade-off is having to deal with the demands of the schools and the parents. I mostly see adults now, with a few adolescents thrown in to keep me on my toes, God love'em.
 
Megboo said:
Yeah, I think the private practice is my saving grace. It's stressful, especially since I do my own billing and my office is always a mess, and I never get paid regularly. But still, it's what allows me to keep on taking my pre-reqs. I thought about doing some PRN (I used to only work hospitals and SNFs) but because of evening classes, I can't do it yet.

I haven't taken calc yet - I'm debating that one. I've got pre-calc and trig done and did well, but it's more a schedule conflict thing. Although I have seen it at the CC and university near me offered on-line from time to time. That's how I took trig and did great.

I sure hope they take all my "research methods courses" Over the course of my degrees I must have taken 5 or 6 of them!

Anyway, it's nice to see there are more therapists out there besides me... no offense to nursing.

Good luck to all! :luck:
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I do all my own billing and scheduling, too. I hear you about the irregular paychecks! I need to stay on top of that better. I so wish our group had an office manager, but at least this keeps our overhead waaaaaaaaaay low. But there are definitely perks- my boss is letting me have a 4-day weekend for MLK to get some rest in before classes start. 😀

So you guys have to take all the stats, too? I have Intro to Inferential Stats and Intro to Empirical Research as an undergrad, plus grad school research/stats. I have a feeling the only one that will be factored in as "math" is Infer. Stats since the other two were through the social work depts of their respective schools.
 
jlw said:
I do all my own billing and scheduling, too. I hear you about the irregular paychecks! I need to stay on top of that better. I so wish our group had an office manager, but at least this keeps our overhead waaaaaaaaaay low. But there are definitely perks- my boss is letting me have a 4-day weekend for MLK to get some rest in before classes start. 😀

So you guys have to take all the stats, too? I have Intro to Inferential Stats and Intro to Empirical Research as an undergrad, plus grad school research/stats. I have a feeling the only one that will be factored in as "math" is Infer. Stats since the other two were through the social work depts of their respective schools.
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It is promising to hear that some of the upper-level AuD classes counted; however, jlw, the questions you present about your research classes counting because they were in the social work depts is the exact thing I am running into. Once I was into my program (OT), the research, science, and stat classes are all listed on my transcript as OTHY (occupational therapy). When I presented this to my pre-med advisor, that is when he said, they must be in the BIO, MATH, CHEM, PSYCH (for stats..), PHYS depts for them to count, at least for GPA purposes, or it confuses them :laugh: Now for you to list them as acutal pre-reqs, I believe they will count.

Another rumor I had heard is that schools will look primarily at your graduate school GPA over your undergrad for admission purposes. Have you heard that as well??
 
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Megboo, and Jlw, what areas of medicine are interested in pursuing with the background you have?
 
DisgruntledOT said:
Another rumor I had heard is that schools will look primarily at your graduate school GPA over your undergrad for admission purposes. Have you heard that as well??
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I have not heard this, and it would be wonderful if it was a true rumor. 😎

Actually, for some reason, my grad school didn't calculate an actual GPA. I have all of my class grades so I could figure it out, but it's not on my transcript. 😕
 
Megboo said:
Ugh. I am a one-man team, so I am truly on my own. Yeah, I had stats in each of my B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. programs, but for my Ph.D. programs it was through the edpsych department, so maybe I'll get the credit. Maybe they'll look favorably on my COMD research courses that are called "research design and statistics". It will really annoy me if none are accepted, especially since they are 500 and 600-level courses!
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:laugh: sorry- when I say "my boss gave me 4 days off" it actually means "I felt like giving myself a 4-day weekend". I'm also a one-woman show.

the group I'm in is structured so that we're all independent practitioners, we just all have our own office within a suite. the rent and utilities are split evenly between the 5 of us, but there's no formal affiliation or incorporation or anything. Luckily for me, I got in after a few of them had done a whirlwind of marketing, so I got onto several insurance and EAP panels on the fact that I'm in the same suite.

what's your time frame for MCAT and applications?
 
DisgruntledOT said:
Megboo, and Jlw, what areas of medicine are interested in pursuing with the background you have?
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sorry- missed this earlier.

Psych is kind of an obvious choice for me, since most of my previous jobs have been in behavioral health settings (community mental health therapist, crisis hotline, hospital-based psych/cd intake, managed behavioral healthcare, now private therapy practice). Growing up I always wanted to be a pediatrician. So child/adol psych? I don't know- as I said earlier, they really do take a lot of grief from parents and schools. I don't want to pick something where I can't use the skills I've already developed, so I can't see myself going into a field without much patient contact.

I'm trying to keep an open mind- kind of like Megboo said, wanting to test the waters with rotations and see if anything else jumps out at me.

As an aside, my mom keeps suggesting I go into orthopedics b/c I've had so many broken bones and other injuries that I have already gained half of the knowledge first-hand. I keep reminding her that this history of klutziness is the exact reason why I need to find a field that's as minimally invasive as possible!
 
Megboo said:
Oh, duh, I get it. I also refer to myself as "the boss" every now and then. I wish I could get some other independent therapists to open an office with me. Then I wouldn't have to travel so much! Unfortunately, there's not many in my area 🙁.

Where are you located, BTW?
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STL

Where in IL are you?
 
Megboo said:
Sandwich, IL - about 65 miles southeast of Rockford and 25 miles west of Aurora. I grew up in Chester, IL, though and went to high school in Waterloo, IL, and my first year of college was at SLU 🙂
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when was this?

I think you need to PM me 😀
 
OK, now that Megboo and I have established that yes- we were at the same undergrad school at the same time, and no- we don't think we knew each other-

When's everyone planning on applying?
 
I too am a PT getting ready to go back to finish pre reqs for med school. I'm currently doing travel PT work at Trauma Center in WA state.
 
freddydpt said:
I'm a PT in medical school... went straight in and took licensure exam between 1st and 2nd year.
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Hey freddy, do you ever have time to take any shifts while in med school?
 
jlw said:
OK, now that Megboo and I have established that yes- we were at the same undergrad school at the same time, and no- we don't think we knew each other-

When's everyone planning on applying?
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Took this semester off from work and will be a full-time student to complete the pre-reqs. Then MCAT Aug '06, and hopefully a med student by Fall '07....if it works out 😉
 
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freddydpt said:
I'm a PT in medical school... went straight in and took licensure exam between 1st and 2nd year.
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So do you practice at all since you passed the licensure exam while in med school? It was very encouraging from your mdapplicant page that medical schools looked highly at you being a PT. Do you think you will go into a field that you can use your PT education at all (like ortho, neuro, etc.) or are you interested in something completely different since you went to med school directly out of PT school.

Sorry for the questions, I'm just always curious when therapists decide to go back to school....
 
I'm a PT and had only 6 months or so between graduating and starting med school (applied during PT school). It's great to have a high paying per diem position! All my friends are super jealous.

Anyway, I'm interested in ortho or PM&R so I do want to utilize my PT background in medical practice.

good luck to all thinking of making the switch!
 
I've been wondering about the PRN thing, too. If I can stay in town, I might still be able to keep a few private practice clients or my PRN hospital job. A few hours a month would be a nice bit of extra cash.. If I wind up having to move, I suppose I could try to get licensed in that state and see if something PRN is available. Too much trouble to try to set up a new practice.
 
I work acute care PT and my hospital is very understanding so I work when I want basically. First year it was 2-3 times per month, now that I'm in the second half of my second year it's down to about 1 time per month.

If you end up going to a school that has a hospital it shouldn't be too difficult to swing something similar.

-J
 
I am a PT who went back to med school. I worked 15-20 hrs per week my first two years of school. You can do it if you are dedicated to studying everyday. I don't regret my decision at all, good luck.

Skialta MSIII
 
For all of the PTs that said they went to med school soon after graduating... What did you say was your reasoning for going so soon after grad school? I am currently getting a Doctor of Audiology degree and I am thinking of going right after graduate school. Thanks!
 
Hey to everyone, nice to see so many health care professionals wanting to advance their career.

I'm a Respiratory Therapist applying to medical school. I've always wanted to practice medicine and Respiratory Therapy gave me a undergrad degree and an early in into the hospital scene (without being a nurse and having to clean up crap and the like). I like being an RT, but I want so much more... working in the hospital these last few years has only mademe more determined to study medicine. Oh, and I'm Canadian.
 
PT with 11 years experience before I went back to school. Currently a DO and an intern. I was excited to go back to medical school. DO complimented my manual knowledge nicely. I was tired of the sameness of PT. 1 TKA is more or less like all the others. I didn't know what I wanted to go into at first, decided on something un-PT (I won't say, but it is NOT ortho,PM&R, or "sports medicine"). I wanted to divorce myself from that aspect. I still work prn to support my family, it supplements the income nicely. I plan on keeping my PT license forever. You never know when you'll need it.

I thought the medical schools viewed me more positively since I was in the health care field and an old fart. Although, a former dean at a very prestigious medical school in Chicago (where I used to live), told me that in his opinion people who are older and especially those in the medical field already won't make good physicians :laugh: 😡 😕 Needless to say, I didn't listen to him and am now a very happy intern (I don't know if you can use those words together in a sentence).

Oh, and those who think medicine gives you "autonomy" :laugh: You will ALWAYS be taking orders from someone, your CEO/COO, insurance companies, etc. The paperwork is endless, and the stakes are higher. But, I'm not complaining. Glad I'm here.

Good luck! The hardest thing to do was to start taking my pre-reqs. Once I did, everything fell into place. 🙂
 
Megboo said:
No offense, but butt-wiping isn't that bad compared to dealing with trach secretions! Especially from a smoker! Blech! **flashback to medical speech-path days**

Anyway, good to see ya - are you going to be applying to Canadian schools only or both US and Canadian?
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Hey Megboo... I meant no offense with the "crap comment"... I think also, at least at the hospital where i work, the role of the RT may be different from the states... I spend my day mostly with intubations, arterial line insertions, transports, code attendance and ventilator management. I only get paged to suction a patient when the patient is in distress. But you are right... sometimes secretions smell like crap or worse... but to each their own I guess.

I'm applying to Canadian schools now... if now luck then I will try ireland and caribbean... But my application is solid so I hope it wont come to that.

Good luck in the app process
~climber
 
Canadian RT's have it a lot better....much fewer politics in the career field from what I have heard (I used to work with an RT from Nova Scotia)
 
Here's the funny thing- once you become an RT (and this is coming from someone who NEVER wanted to be an RT, I wound up as one because of a paperwork SNAFU) you become quite comfortable with mucus and for some it becomes almost a competition sport to find the strangest color or texture, etc.

Personally I do fine with everything but childbirth. I hate delivering babies.
 
Hey megboo, just wondering... when are you applying to med school? this year? Where did you go for your ph.d When I was looking into my ph.d I interviewed and stayed at urbana champ. for about 1 week (got snowed in). I see you're from IL so I thought maybe you went to school there???
 
I'm now comfortable with mucus and puke, it's more the wretching part of throwing up that gets me. Must be some kind of reactionary reflex!
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Ah, yes, the well-described sympathy puke or its less well known variant, sympathy nausea...
 
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