Yea, I’m at a stand still. I’ll figure it out. Do DPT’s (or you yourself) experience animosity from other professionals in the medical field? Also, if you don’t mind me asking. What was you daily schedule like while in DPT school? How intense, is it? I have a friend who told me he just goes to class and just studies. He feels like there’s not enough time in the day... even to cook a home cooked meal. Lol.
I would have to say no, i have not experienced any animosity from any other medical professionals be it physicians, nurses, OT, SLP, pharmacists, you name it. Does it happen? Maybe? I can't really say. You hear or read about it online, but personally I have not. If anything, physicians and nurses appreciate our input, in regards to patient functional status, and respect our analysis. Both inpatient and outpatient scenarios, the hospital i work for appreciates and values PT input when necessary and within the context of patient functional mobility/status.
In regards to your other question, I feel you can easily have a life outside of PT school. Second year for us was very tough because we took all our core curriculum that year, needless to say we were studying most of the time and we had class literally 5 days a week from 7:30 am -6 pm. But you find time. If you're good with planning and prioritizing, you will make time. Especially if you pay attention in class. I certainly did not feel like i studied ALL the time during the entirety of PT school, however.
I 100% disagree with your assertion that PTs are technicians. The doctorate is to teach you/us how to think, not how to teach someone a quad set or how to do ultrasound. I agree that the cost is ridiculous but if you consider yourself a technician, you are not being a physical therapist, you are doing physical therapy. There is a massive difference between the two.
Technician was definitely a stretch and i apologize for that. Although, there are those out there who just go through the motions so... But that's a different topic.
You are correct, the doctorate is supposed to improve our clinical reasoning, but having completed PT school and a residency, i feel PT school doesn't properly prepare the student PT in a way where their clinical reasoning is particularly strong. I feel the programs bring us up as technicians or at the very least pass the NPTE. I went through an orthopedic residency and that definitely improved my clinical reasoning, subjective examination, objective examination, etc. All that being said, i think what we do as clinicians does not require a doctorate. I think the way PT school is taught now, a bachelors/masters would suffice, save costs, time etc. Residency and fellowship programs could be taken on by the individual to improve their clinical reasoning. Now, I don't care if it is a doctorate or not, but if it would save on costs and time, then i think a masters is what it should have been. If making it a doctorate would have kept costs the same/bumped up salary, then sure keep that way as well. I also think it being a doctorate attracts people who want to be "doctors" and see this as an easier way than other doctoring professions. I don't call myself a doctor, i don't have my patients do it either and i will actually just ask them to call me by first name if they do address me as "Dr. PT."
I'm fairly certain that the profession didn't have to go to a doctorate level degree, but I must say that I have worked without therapists who are practicing at the doctorate level. We definitely cannot do what "doctors" do, but if you know what you're doing and you act in a responsible and profession manner, your work doesn't have to feel like you're being treated like a technician. I certainly don't feel that way. I'm a neurologic PT; I evaluate and treat people with so many neurologic injuries and the patients I treat take my word seriously. Not only that, but I've been asked frequently about my doctorate and my board certification. And people take those seriously, including the dozen or so physicians I treat. So I'm not sure where your frustration comes from. But I'm sure it's legitimate and we should as a profession work to improve our professional satisfaction. I would hate for you or anyone else to be so dissatisfied with our work.
Correct, and the term "doctor" is not synonymous with "physician". I guess my frustrations come from people earning the DPT and thinking now that they're "doctors" they know all and it is this way and always shall be this way. There are tons of PTs who practice without the doctorate who would run circles around any new grad DPT. Experience trumps all (or most), but i guess it's the arrogance of some people. I say this as a recent graduate who, if nothing else, at least knows that there is so much we don't know and managing some of these MSK conditions can be quote complicated as there is a lot out of our hands. I'm also frustrated, very much so actually, with how much it costs to become a PT and how low the reimbursement rates are. We also spend so much time with our patients yet only get reimbursed based on units sold rather quality of the work we put out. It's a lot i guess. Maybe some of us share the same frustrations.
Here's the thing, I absolutely love what I do as a PT. I do both inpatient and outpatient and love it, but i guess for reasons mentioned above i have my gripes.
As it stands, i really can't recommend PT school unless the person really doesn't see any other way for them to work and be happy. You will most likely have to work more than you want, and be extremely frugal as you won't earn much.
That being said i really do enjoy my job, but the way things are right now makes it impossible for to tell someone else to go down this route.
