Ok, time for a career change. I’m currently an industrial engineer in a semiconductor plant and I can’t stand it. I’m sick of sitting in front of a computer all day long doing crap that doesn’t really help anyone out. I keep looking at various health/fitness related fields and I think I leaning towards physical therapy.
So, if you are a physical therapist, how do you like your job? How does it pay the bills? WHat are the hours like? What are the pros and cons of it? How much schooling did you have to go through? How is the job market? Basically, spill your guts, please.
PT’s are VERY needed and can get work anywhere. Most often they make in major citys between $50-60 a year, more if you are a Traveling PT and then you are upwards of $80k with housing and what not.
My GF is a PT and as PRN can get $58.00 an hour and has more work than she can shake a stick at if she wants it. That $120k if you really wanted to work 40 hours PRN and could get the hours.
Currently in Georiga, and it is different in other states, it’s a 5 year masters program. With a science and math based degree you should be good to skip the first 2 years of any PT program, but you could have trouble getting in because there are so few in the country.
Record is right, as a traveler you can make tons of cash and move all around the country, big cities and rural communities. Young and single make a good combination with the life of a traveler.
The Univeristy of Miami offers a 3-year clinical doctorate program. Quite a few of my training partners are in it…don’t know anything about it other than that, but it seems to be a short program offering a high-level degree.
here’s my experience (i have one year left of grad school, 90hrs volunteering in a PT clinic, and am 99% certain i’m going to PT school) however, i would love to hear other’s inputs who are going thru grad school, working, etc. but from the people i’ve worked with, it’s pretty much a 3 year doctorate degree (DPT) after a 4 year undergrad degree. there are schools all over the country, and i think the avg GPA is around 3.3 to get in. as far as getting a job goes, from the people i’ve talked to, you can get a job ANYWHERE. the pay is also very reasonable at what i think is anywhere from 50k on up a year. however, it’s worth looking into what is going on with medicaid and the insurance companies as they often control how much you get paid for your services, and what services you can do.
This fall, my sis is getting ready to start her 3 yr doctorate program at Oakland U here in Michigan. From what I remember her telling me, most programs are 3 yr doctorates, although Wayne State U’s is a 3-yr Masters program. She only applied to about 3-4 schools and almost had to go to there. From an orientation meeting she went to, I believe she said it would run about $60k.
See, that’s what I’m also thinking about. I’m starting to love Austin, but the jobs in my industry are really few and far between and they are located in only a few areas around the country. If I’m a PT, I can go anywhere that I want to go to.
I’m definitely leaning towards PT now over something like personal training, massage therapy, or yoga teacher. I would be back at school, which I like, and I would be doing something which I would think I would enjoy much, much more than what I’m doing now.
See, I want to deal with athletes. I don’t want to deal with people that are not athletes or older. I know that I will, but I prefer to handle athletes.
I can offer some second hand insight - my sister is a physical therapist and has been for about 5 years. Basically, the breakdown for money (least to most) would be hospital, private practice, home health, nursing home (This is what another PT told me b/c not many want to do it). She has been in private practice and does home health on the side. She’s run into many problems with private practice as many seem to be quite money hungry (ie, want return clients, even after rehabilitated). Home health can get kind of creepy. Most PT’s want to work sports, so jobs would be harder to come by. Also, you’ll tend to find that you’ll start off making pretty good money, but there is a pretty low ceiling (not much you can do to grow without running your own place…). All that being said, I know many other PT’s who do enjoy their job. I can understand wanting to get away from a computer…
For what its worth, she’s going to get her PhD in the fall to have the option of being a professor. I’m sure other PT’s may have other opinions, but this is just what I’ve gathered from her.
W/ her undergrad degree she also has the option of going into any of those other fields you mentioned in addition to teaching. I think she just had enough of whiny football players.
You need to move “Nursing Home” to the top of your pay scale. Depending…long term rehab centers are paying higest right now for inpatient ortho…total knees, total hips and what not.
Recent article I read- NY Times maybe? about phys tharapists, growing need because of aging population and all us baby boomers getting more sports and other injuries.
the big “however” is that insurance companies are pinching their coverage for chiropractic, rehabilitation and phys therapy- the article cited difficulties in career opportunities because of reimbursement policies even though demand is high.
I know that my plan (Pacificare) currently limits claims to $2,000 a year and on our July 1st plan renewal the new policy has NO coverage. I am on a pretty good PPO, hate to think what a basic HMO would do. I am investigating coverage and shopping for other plans for our 75 person staff but of course there’s no good answers to any insurance questions these days.
Here’s my story. I have a BS in Exercise Science from Univ of WI-Madison and MPT (Master in Physical Therapy) from the U.S. Army-Baylor University program in San Antonio. Many programs are converting to DPT programs, most will offer you the option of MPT or DPT or even DPT/PhD programs. The DPT degrees are still entry-level degrees, it’s a clinical doctorate, and IMHO no better than an MPT.
I am in the Navy, so my pay scale is determined by my rank, years of service and location. That said, I make a lot more money than most PT’s with 4 years of experience. I think the average is around 50-55K.
PT is a very broad field and is ever-expanding. Some other areas that you could specialize in are wound care, cardiac rehab, industrial settings, worker’s comp (big money with equally big headaches), pediatrics, and breast health/lymphedema management (post mastectomy therapy, also big money potential and a very important service).
As with any other career, there are lots of positives and lots of frustrations. On the civilian side the major frustrations are REIMBURSEMENT and PRODUCTIVITY. We’re even starting to see some of this in the military setting, which is very unsettling.
It’s a great field, I enjoy it, I get frustrated with it, I often think about what else I might want to do. Usually comes back to doing what I’m already doing, but maybe in another setting. My dream job is running my own clinic which would focus on endurance athletes and combine therapy with coaching/training. Maybe someday.
PM me if you have more questions.
BTW: PRN is a medical abbreviation for “as needed”. Better start to learn those abbreviations if you want to be a PT, and most of them make as much sense as PRN.
Oh, I forgot to mention that while at the Univ of WI I also did an internship, when those still existed, in athletic training. That’s another route you could look at. BS in athletic training and then go on to PT school. It was fun, I got to do some good travelling with the teams, but working with high profile athletes (Div 1) can be overrated. Many of them have egos bigger than their bodies and the coaches can be downright DICKS!!