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what are your fav parts about being a physical therapist?
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Cathy Doyle
Physical Therapist and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
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Cathy’s Answer
I have been a PT for over 30 years and have worked in a variety of settings with patients aged 10 to 102! I started out as an in call traveling PT for 2 years. That was great to get a taste of different settings and learning from so many excellent PTs. My favorite by far is treating Geriatric patients (esp. the grumpy old men! Haha) and Fascia Counterstrain Manual Therapy for pain Management. I worked in Home Health for over 20 yrs. I now work at a private Strain Counterstrain clinic part time and at The VA in patient Rehabilitation Center part time.
I found that healthcare workers either really like or dislike Home health. You have to be very independent and creative to do HH. You never know what you’re going to walk into. I do not recommend HH for new grads. Get a few years of experience under your belt. I really enjoyed it. There is a lot of driving and paperwork. But really anywhere you work has a lot of documentation due to Medicare requirements, which all insurance companies follow. In HH you’ll see 4-6 pts a day and at the VA Inpt rehab you’ll see 7-9 pts and out patient you’ll see 8-10 in a typical 8 hour day. Depends how many Initial Evals you’ll have.
My favorite part of course is the hands on treatment and working with the patients directly and the worst is the tedious documentation.
As far as pay...traveling PTs make the most and you get to travel if you like that sort of thing, Home Health also pays very well with great benefits, being on call at the VA pays well in lieu of benefits, out patient seems to pay the least in my experience and you are required to see a lot of pts. Some clinics you only have 30 min per pt. I would never work at those clinics. I knew a PT who worked 10 hour days and saw 20 pts!
Overall, I have really Enjoyed my long career as a PT wherever I ended up as long as I knew how much we help these people. My experience has shown me that PTs really make a wonderful difference in this world.
I found that healthcare workers either really like or dislike Home health. You have to be very independent and creative to do HH. You never know what you’re going to walk into. I do not recommend HH for new grads. Get a few years of experience under your belt. I really enjoyed it. There is a lot of driving and paperwork. But really anywhere you work has a lot of documentation due to Medicare requirements, which all insurance companies follow. In HH you’ll see 4-6 pts a day and at the VA Inpt rehab you’ll see 7-9 pts and out patient you’ll see 8-10 in a typical 8 hour day. Depends how many Initial Evals you’ll have.
My favorite part of course is the hands on treatment and working with the patients directly and the worst is the tedious documentation.
As far as pay...traveling PTs make the most and you get to travel if you like that sort of thing, Home Health also pays very well with great benefits, being on call at the VA pays well in lieu of benefits, out patient seems to pay the least in my experience and you are required to see a lot of pts. Some clinics you only have 30 min per pt. I would never work at those clinics. I knew a PT who worked 10 hour days and saw 20 pts!
Overall, I have really Enjoyed my long career as a PT wherever I ended up as long as I knew how much we help these people. My experience has shown me that PTs really make a wonderful difference in this world.
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Rodolfo’s Answer
Being a part of someone’s day especially with the elderly population and listening to their life stories. And of course seeing my patients able to regain their mobility and independence.