Career Advancement: A reward for being “better”

From what I can tell, there are a few main ways to advance your career as a Physical Therapist.  1.) Increased decision making 2.) Increased marketing 3.) Increased research-academia 4.) Increased productivity 5.) Entrepreneurial pursuits.  There is something missing off this list that I think needs to be investigated – increased thinking and patient care.  Let’s discuss…

Argument. You’re doing it wrong.

Image Credit: Bill Watterson

Hello from pre-DPT curriculum land,

The #PTBT has been working hard back at the academics this semester and is attempting to maintain posts on-the-regular.  Stephen is busy as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the program, and Spencer and I are just messing around reading articles about Dry Needling, Manual Therapy, Acupuncture and Chiropractic… while we’re supposed to be studying.

We have been discussing the future of the field, the future of our own practices and a bunch of things that I’m sure dominated every student’s thoughts towards the end of school, namely: comps, boards, money, residency, setting, etc.  That being said, if left to our own devices, we eventually gravitate back to talking about the more divisive topics that exist out there.  We have read many discussions, editorials and expert opinions.  We have looked on social media, listened to podcasts, read blogs and listened in on conversations around the halls here in school.   We often observe (and participate in?!) arguments.  Some good, some bad.

The Problem with Preventative Medicine

And so, if we are healthy, then Hospitals/Health System will not see us come through the door, and not get paid.  They thrive, financially, on the sickness.

Truly they survive financially on sickness because health insurance has agreed with the individual, and mandated to the provider, to pay to ‘cure’ sickness.

The health system wants to promote wellness, to avoid sickness, but there is no money in that at the moment.  So it’s lip service at worst, and unbillable time at best.

What kind of doctor are you?

Personally, I don’t prefer to be called one thing or another by the patients I treat. Maybe that’s because I’m still a student and not yet a doctor of physical therapy, but I do know (for certain) the reality of the doctorate level work that is being required of me at my current institution. It’s real, and intensive, and when I finish…I will have earned a doctoral degree.

Many arguments have been made about who should be called doctor. Should we (as PTs) be called doctor? Should we refer to ourselves as doctor? Often, physicians (or their attorney advocates) attack physical therapists for using the terminology to describe themselves,

Hey, Where is that Pain From?

Have you ever asked someone where they are from?  Sure, you have.  Have you noticed a breadth of answers in terms of history time-line?

For example: Some might say

• “Oh, I’m from Hillcrest Neighborhood” (immediate History)
• “I’m from Virginia” (current History)
• “I grew up in Boston” (Childhood / Distant History)
• “My family-line is from Poland” (Distant History)
• etc… and on.

How far back do we normally go?  Perhaps it depends on who is asking the question, and what the context of the conversation is about.  

How long should your DPT program be?

Recently, John Childs from EIM wrote an interesting piece about the current status of the 3 year DPT and its cost/effectiveness.  In the blog post (Are times a changin’ in DPT education?),  Childs references an article written in the New York Times about “The Drawn Out Medical Degree.”