Pediatric Therapists and your Patients Question

[DocTAP87]

I really want to work as a pediatric physical therapist but I have not been fortunate enough to land a clinical observation or clinical rotation at a peds clinic.

I imagine working with kids in the clinic and in their homes. I would like to work with children from birth throughout high school. When I picture working with kids, I imagine working with kids who have congenital disorders, terminal illnesses, aches and pains, and sports injuries.

I have been told that pediatric physical therapists are among the lowest paid PTs in the field. Is this true?

In your experience in pediatrics, do you see a wide variety of diagnoses in children? What do you like most about your work? Least? Do you have any advice for a PT student hoping to get involved in pediatrics?

Finally, I understand male pediatric PTs are a rare sight. Do you think that will have any bearing on me trying to find a job?

Please share anything else that may come to mind.

Thank you very much!

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[keston02]

I know this is about a month old, but I came across it and thought I would respond. I'm a peds PT who has been out for two years and is heavily involved in interviewing, hiring, and training new grads for our program.

I'm actually beginning to train a new grad who did not have experience in peds but after she shadowed me for a week, I said ok. I recommend that you find shadowing and volunteering opportunities while you can, especially if it's at a facility that you are interested in working at in the future. I had a classmate who did this without any peds rotations. Take opportunities to work and interact with typically-developing children and if you have the opportunity to work with the neuro population, take advantage of it because some of those skills transfer over well. If you can find a facility like ours, where you can do a mix of adults and peds as you are trained, that is also helpful.

You don't see a lot of guys in peds, but I think it's awesome. We have a guy who works in ortho who I constantly try to convince to see kids because I think he would be great at it, but he won't. Be proactive about taking some pediatric continuing education, especially handling classes and classes that help give treatment ideas. Join the pediatric physical therapy groups on Facebook, join the peds section of the APTA, and show that you are proactive about learning. If someone did that and conveyed that passion and drive in an interview to me, I would recommend them for hire, man or woman.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[DocTAP87]

I know this is about a month old, but I came across it and thought I would respond. I'm a peds PT who has been out for two years and is heavily involved in interviewing, hiring, and training new grads for our program.

I'm actually beginning to train a new grad who did not have experience in peds but after she shadowed me for a week, I said ok. I recommend that you find shadowing and volunteering opportunities while you can, especially if it's at a facility that you are interested in working at in the future. I had a classmate who did this without any peds rotations. Take opportunities to work and interact with typically-developing children and if you have the opportunity to work with the neuro population, take advantage of it because some of those skills transfer over well. If you can find a facility like ours, where you can do a mix of adults and peds as you are trained, that is also helpful.

You don't see a lot of guys in peds, but I think it's awesome. We have a guy who works in ortho who I constantly try to convince to see kids because I think he would be great at it, but he won't. Be proactive about taking some pediatric continuing education, especially handling classes and classes that help give treatment ideas. Join the pediatric physical therapy groups on Facebook, join the peds section of the APTA, and show that you are proactive about learning. If someone did that and conveyed that passion and drive in an interview to me, I would recommend them for hire, man or woman.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

Thank you for answering. I really appreciate it and I will keep all of this in mind. I am attempting to get a peds rotation during the second half of my second year. I am also volunteering at the Crim Race in Flint for the Teddy Bear Trot with a group of us PT students. Thanks again!

 

[DSPDPT]

I really want to work as a pediatric physical therapist but I have not been fortunate enough to land a clinical observation or clinical rotation at a peds clinic.

I imagine working with kids in the clinic and in their homes. I would like to work with children from birth throughout high school. When I picture working with kids, I imagine working with kids who have congenital disorders, terminal illnesses, aches and pains, and sports injuries.

I have been told that pediatric physical therapists are among the lowest paid PTs in the field. Is this true?

In your experience in pediatrics, do you see a wide variety of diagnoses in children? What do you like most about your work? Least? Do you have any advice for a PT student hoping to get involved in pediatrics?

Finally, I understand male pediatric PTs are a rare sight. Do you think that will have any bearing on me trying to find a job?

Please share anything else that may come to mind.

Thank you very much!

Hey! I'm a guy, just passed the NPTE, and looking for jobs. I am also looking into pediatrics and was fortunate enough to get a pediatric rotation at a school for children with brain injuries. From what my teachers/other PTs working pediatrics have told me, it is much easier to get into a pediatric position if you have pediatric experience, but that doesn't mean you won't get into any.

You are right, male therapists are pretty rare in the pediatric field, my pediatric rotation had one male therapist (OT), and the rest of the therapists (PT, OT, SLP) were all female. So you will stand out, but in a good way. If you are really interested in pediatrics, look into pediatric focused continuing ed courses, different treatment/handling techniques (my rotation involved a lot of NDT handling) and the pediatric section of the APTA has a lot of resources as well.