r/physicaltherapy

I'm a new grad and currently job hunting. There are a few companies that I've applied to and gotten responses from with enough interest to want me to tour their local clinics where I might work. I've already been to two clinics and wasn't particularly floored, mostly due to equipment (no leg press, knee curl/extension, cable column) and lack of private evaluation rooms (each office had one room available but I was told they hardly use them). Aside from steering clear of mills, what were your non-negotiable deal breakers when looking for that first job out of PT school?

Hello, ive been a PT for about 8 years now and am really dreading going to work everyday. Now ive got to say that my current job is amazing on paper and I get compensated very well, but I just dread patient interaction everyday and dont know what to do. I work in home health and only have to see 5 to 6 patients a day but even on days that I see 5 or even 4 I feel so drained and dont know why. I have been dealing with a lot of anxiety and depression lately and most of my anxiety comes from work, but my therapist thinks that I'd be anxious and overworking no matter what job I have so I cant say that I just hate being a PT. im just curious if anyone else has ever been in this type of situation and what they did because im so fed up with dreading going to work everyday since its been like this in past jobs ive had since PT school as well. Thank you very much for reading and please lend me any advice you may have

Hello all, gonna keep this as brief as i can. I filed an HR complaint gainst the two rehab technicians i work with on friday for various reasons. However, literally a year ago in october i reported one of the rehab techs for making comments to me such as "i could put your head through a wall if i wanted to", kicking equipment while i am working with it, calling me a "good boy" after repeated expressions that i found it disrespectful. Subsuquently the rehab director took it upon herself to start calling me a "good boy" under her breath as she walked by when returning to work from that weekend.

So my question is, for anyone who has experience with these types of complaints, did the Rehab Director take appropriate action? Especially considering i literally had a threat of physical violence made towards me?

I have MedBridge and current concepts (6th edition). Do you think these and the field guide podcast are enough? I’ve heard mixed reviews about MedBridge. Final frontier was great for NPTE, but not sure how it is for OCS.

Hi there. I’m a first semester nursing student looking for a little bit of guidance or suggestions for an upcoming educational assignment I have at my clinical site. We are currently working in a long term care facility and the resident I will be doing my assignment on has right sided weakness in his upper and lower extremities from a stroke a few years ago. He uses a wheelchair and struggles to complete ADLs with his right side. He has expressed frustration to me in the past because insurance will no longer cover PT, and he has also stated that he will sometimes use the guard rail in the hall to practice walking independently with little regard to falling, which is obviously a safety concern. For my educational project I wanted to teach him some strength training exercises that he can do from his wheelchair or from bed that may improve his muscle tone and ideally improve his quality of life over time. I was hoping to get some suggestions from physical therapists for exercises that may be appropriate for him. I plan to make a poster explaining these movements along with conducting a demonstration. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all, I’m a second year spt!! I just had my out patient rotation and loved it!! However, I can see myself getting burnt out quickly and becoming a routine PT due to always being double or triple booked. Does anyone know if there are OP clinics out there that don’t double book? It’s always really important for me to get to know my patients and be one on one. Also is there a big pay discrepancy if so? Thanks

Mostly just venting, but this whole experience has really summed up how I’m feeling about the profession and APTA at this point.

I got my DPT in 2019 and pursued my OCS as a professional goal. I studied, passed the exam, got the certification, and was genuinely proud of accomplishing it.

To my memory it took almost a year to get my physical OCS certification. Which unfortunately was damaged during a move.

In late July I ordered a replacement copy of my OCS certificate because I wanted to actually display it. It’s now October 1st and I still don’t have it.

I’ve contacted APTA about it. In mid Septemeber, I was told there was an issue with their shipping-label printer, that IT was supposed to have it fixed that day, and that they expected to start printing and shipping orders the following day. More than two weeks later, I still have no certificate and no tracking number.

Maybe this sounds like a small thing, but it’s incredibly frustrating coming from our own professional organization. We already spend a ridiculous amount of money on education, licensing, continuing education, certifications, memberships, recertification, etc. I paid for a replacement certificate almost two months ago, and apparently getting a piece of paper mailed to me is too much to ask.

At this point, I don’t think I’m going to renew my OCS when the time comes. I pursued it because it was a personal and professional goal. I accomplished it. I checked that box. I’m glad I did it, but I don’t see the value in continuing to pay to maintain a credential when I can’t even get a replacement certificate that I already paid for.

Between experiences like this and how burned out I’ve become with the profession itself, I have very little confidence in where PT or APTA is headed.

Maybe I’ll eventually feel differently, but right now I’m increasingly thinking it’s time to take the DPT/OCS experience, recognize what I accomplished, and move on to something else.

I've been offered 45$/hr and to me that seems on the low end so I wanted to know how much Outpatient PT PRN rates are at right now.

Have a question and hope its ok. Home health nurse here. I have a quadriplegic pt who has been able to transfer until june when he got sepsis. Been trying to get him home pt since june. I have been told he has to be able to bare weight before he can go to outpatient pt at a therapy facility. Is this true?

Any tips for dealing with noncompliant patients? I'm talking about the ones who come in and complain for an hour about their symptoms, rush back to activity, and have a super high cancel rate. Do you just bang your head against a wall, note whatever education you can fit in, and move on, Until you do the same thing day over day, and quit the profession?

One of my old coworkers who works for Powerback told me that leadership said today they're reducing everyones PTO down to 40 hours per year max and erasing everyones sick time next week. Apparently the nursing side will get to keep their 300 hours per year of PTO.

Edit: it sounds like tomorrow is a good time to be sick!

Hello, everyone! I wanted to post this thought of mind that has been bugging me for the past few days and today was just the tipping point. Am I crazy for being too overprotective of my residents?

For context, I am a PTA and have been working for a year now in a SNF and it has its ups and downs (11 max pt a day, very flexible scheduling, understanding A/DOR, mix of complex/easy residents). As per protocol, our goal is to reach for maximum potential = independence. I am a very perfectionist therapist to make sure this path to independence is smooth and all or most areas are covered to attain this. The downside to this mindset is holding off on progression until I feel 100% with my residents (such as on/off unit walking, 2WW to SPC/no AD) and I do the most such as inservices to staff to make sure my residents dont fall.

So far I have not heard any negative feedback from my DOR. It just so happens lately that my new coworkers are getting praised for doing those process fast. True, we all have different patients and treatment styles. I just cant help but compare my methods to others, and I try to see it as a learning lesson for me to improve myself but I can’t help but compare and criticize myself.

Today, I just had a discussion with a resident that doing car transfers may not be feasible as he has decreased standing tolerance with notable arthritis on L knee leading to buckles (and 3 falls in the past 6 months, eventually leading to fall down the stairs and requiring cervical surgery with consequent BUE weakness). He wants to attend his wife’s birthday party next weekend hence opening this can of worms (he was understanding when he had the discussion). I did consider a slideboard transfer but it seemed too ambitious cause I am afraid he might just slip and there’s no room for me or the other assists to catch/assist him. I do have so say he is pretty much CGA with w/c to bed slideboard however its different with cars. I discussed this with the COTA about my side and he listened however during his session, they tried the transfer without me using the mat to replicate the car (parallel and higher). I can’t help but think if I just blatantly gave my resident no hope and I felt really bad and left out. This is the same COTA who I previously worked with an amputee who I was carefully transitioning to a SBQC on my own. He apparently did gait training with him as well, behind my back, and the pt fell and I was just flabbergasted by everything. Anyway, everything boiled down to me thinking if I am just too protective of my residents.

TL/DR: I am a very overprotective PTA of my SNF residents and despite meaning well to achieve independence, sometimes I am holding myself and possibly my residents back. A COTA went behind my back (multiple times) to the things I was being cautious of and it made me question my confidence as a therapist.

I have a patient coming in who had lumbar surgery 3 months ago and she is unable to tolerate supine or sidelying positions due to increase in pain. She also cannot tolerate bike so we have been doing seated exercises in the chair (LAQ, marching, hip adduction/abduction). She can’t tolerate sitting down on the bed either ….. I am struggling to figure out what else to do with her.

I work in a family owned outpatient private practice clinic. Pay is above average, but our benefits are not good.

- 10 days PTO (20 after 5 years)
- high premium health insurance.
- no designated CEU

The one that KILLS me is no 401k. Instead we have a Roth IRA with no match. Any tips on how to persuade my employer to start this for us?

For context I’m a former ATC and spent a year in a DPT program but that was 10 years ago. Doing a different career now though.

Trying to self treat some chronic low back pain I’ve been having but finding it so hard to sort through all the opinions on the internet. Seems like there’s a bunch of schools of thought with some of the PRI stuff becoming very prevalent lately.

Are there any YouTubers that y’all would recommend?

Has anyone worked for apex network? I’m debating on a travel job in NM here, but can’t tell if it’s a mill or not.