Category: new grad travel physical therapy

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Experience Before Travel PT vs. New Grad Travel PT

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new grad traveling therapy

James of HoboHealth worked in private practice before going into traveling PT and believes gaining professional experience is the right move to make before traveling.  April of The Vagabonding DPT has had professional success and happiness through becoming a traveler immediately as a new grad. These two traveling Doctors of Physical Therapy from different personal and professional backgrounds have connected to provide you diverse perspectives on travel PT.  This is their first blog post together of a series of topics.

What are the advantages of being a New Grad PT vs. being an Experienced PT then going into Travel PT?

 

headshot-square-finalHoboHealth:
Professional Experience – I only worked for six months between graduation and starting as a traveling PT. The brief time I worked in private practice before traveling did a lot to shape who I am as a clinician today. Getting just a little bit of experience as a clinician allowed me to become grounded in a healthy work environment before setting out into the less predictable and less stable world of traveling.

Personal Marketability – I believe the little bit of experience I had in private practice prior to traveling gave me a leg-up on other candidates looking at the same jobs. My first traveling job was (primarily) outpatient in a community hospital outside of Boston with other therapists around to help continue my mentorship and growth. Without a little experience, I don’t believe they would have taken on the risk of hiring a near-new grad. Six months in private practice, followed by 10 months at my first travel assignment with strong mentorship set me up for 10 years of positive traveling assignments. Bottomline, if you get a little experience before travel, better employment opportunities are available to you as a traveler.

Vagabonding DPT:april-fajardo-headshot
My life was as compact as possible.  I already had sold all my furniture and everything I owned fit into my Honda Civic. I was as mobile as I ever would be.  If there was any opportunity to travel and explore, now was my moment. I had just spent my 3rd year completing my clinical rotations in Oklahoma City, OK; Salt Lake City, UT; Springfield, MO; and Dallas, TX. I was moving about every couple of months.  In essence, my clinical internships provided me the opportunity to live the life of a travel DPT as a student.  I was used to learning at a rapid rate and had to learn to adjust to a new city and clinic every few months. Because of this, It was quite an easy transition to go from a DPT student on clinical rotations to a DPT on the road for work.

You have “less” responsibility. As one begins to settle into their career and life (in general), the natural progression is to get settled into a specific location, get married, buy a house, have children or furry kids, and/or take care of ill, elderly parents.  Although I think it is absolutely possible to travel with all the aforementioned circumstances, these factors require far more extensive benefit/cost analysis. For myself, I wasn’t married, I didn’t have a house, nor did I have children.  So I made the personal decision to take the plunge straight into travel PT for further domestic exploration and adventures!

Money
Although I believe that this shouldn’t be your primary reason for going into traveling therapy.  It definitely doesn’t hurt. Students are coming out with a tremendous amount of debt and this is definitely a great way to pay down those student loans.

What are the disadvantages of being a New Grad PT vs. being an Experienced PT then going into Travel PT?

 

HoboHealth:
When I first thought about this question, my gut reaction was, “There’s no disadvantage! What could be wrong with having more experience going into a job?” …but then I thought of the hardest day of my PT career – the day I had to quit my first job. The day I told my mentor and friend that I wouldn’t be able to work for him anymore was a really stressful day. Quitting a job, especially one that you like, is hard. I can see how someone with the intention to travel could go get a steady job and never end up leaving it. While I do believe strongly in getting experience before traveling, I can see how you risk getting “stuck” in a permanent job. I remember the phrase one of my professors told me to make quitting professional and simple, “It’s an opportunity I can’t pass up.” Remember that phrase, it’s a good one.

Also, the traveling lifestyle is only available to those in the right life situations to have the flexibility to take short-term contracts. Sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot – waiting to take a permanent job, get several months of experience, and then quitting can shift you into a phase of life where the idea of travel isn’t as easy as it once was. New family obligations, meeting a significant other, and simple logistics like year-long rental leases can obstruct your path to the open road.

Vagabonding DPT:
Mentorship:
Off the bat, one’s initial thought may be the lack of mentorship.  There are some travel companies that may market mentorship opportunities.  I challenge you to ask them what exactly this looks like.  Just being in the same clinic as other physical therapists does not constitute as mentorship.  This can be countered by building an army of mentors while being a student.  Based on my interests, I’ve inadvertently built an army of specialists from Neurologic PT to Global Health to Nonprofit Leadership.

Mentorship does not have to be limited to our profession. There is something to learn from everyone.  Quite frankly, our patients become our first mentors.  If you learn to listen intently, they will lead you to the answer.  In addition, a firm understanding of other disciplines such as occupational therapy and speech & language pathology can help us maximize our role with a focus on patient-centered rehabilitative care.

Lack of Experience:
James touched upon this and it is true.  There will be some jobs that will require that you have more experience than what you have had. However, I secured my second job assignment by highlighting my strengths and experiences in that setting.  I applied for a position in inpatient rehabilitation that required 5 years of experience.  So during my phone interview, I discussed my experience.  I worked for two years as a PT aide in outpatient PT, then did an additional two years as a rehab aide prior to even applying for physical therapy. I also completed two clinical rotations in inpatient rehabilitation. I felt I was more than qualified for the position at hand.   I’m glad that the rehabilitation manager was pleased with my response as well because she essentially hired me for the position. I’ve extended my contract since then.

Being a traveler can isolate you from the typical learning and professional development paths that may be available in more traditional PT careers. What have you done or do you plan to do to continue your professional development?

 

HoboHealth:
Board Specialty
Shortly after completing my transitional-DPT, I soon felt ready to pursue my Orthopaedic Clinical Specialty (OCS). I spent more than a year reading every piece of ortho research I could get my hands on and reading a couple comprehensive ortho books cover-to-cover. The constant studying kept me focused on a fixed goal for quite some time. Specialties through ABPTS are available in variety of practice areas. A couple supervisors on travel assignments have told me they hired me specifically because of my board specialist certification. In total, my tDPT and OCS combined filled the first  4 years of my professional life with a structured, focused learning path.

Some universities are offering post-doctoral learning paths that culminate in sitting for (and hopefully passing) the specialist exams. My alma mater, Northeastern University, offers a Certificate of Advanced Study in Orthopedics. Essentially, you take 5 online classes focused on advanced orthopedic practice, earn college credits, and become more prepared for the OCS exam. Programs like this can help you keep a structured learning schedule that can otherwise so easily fall out of priority while working as a travel PT.

Certifications
Generally, I am skeptical of programs focused on one clinical belief system and the alphabet soup that comes along with them. Courses that all come from a single guru will help you dive deeply into a treatment strategy, but are typically lacking in variety outside of that one strategy. However, as a way to provide a structure for learning towards a final goal, they can be very useful. I currently am about to set out on earning my certification in Dry Needling. Over the next year, I have my learning laid out for me and a fixed goal to be certified in Dry Needling and Cupping by the end of 2017. There are some other great programs available that offer several courses on different topics culminating in a single certification – do be discerning, not all certs are created equal.

Vagabonding DPT:
With the constant change, rapid rate of learning, and high productive expectations expected as a Travel PT, you can get burnt out and/or apathetic as a PT.  It is pivotal that you “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”  Since graduation, I have done exactly that through social media, leadership positions, national PT conferences, and continuing education courses.

Social Media
I didn’t understand Twitter.  I didn’t get the point.  However, a few years ago, I ran for the position of APTA Student Assembly Director of Communications and thought that I should get one in the event I got elected and had to manage one. I’ll be honest.  I had no idea what I was doing.  With the Twitter mentorship of Matt Debole, PT, DPT, OCS and Stephanie Weyrauch, PT, DPT, they opened up a world of passionate students and clinicians from all over the country and the world.  I started utilizing pound signs…I mean hashtags and twitter handles in my tweets.  A few years later, I had the pleasure of engaging with these professionals virtually and in person.

If you don’t have a twitter account, get one.  The best way is to just dive in and follow a few hashtags such as #ChoosePT, #DPTstudent, #SolvePT, #FreshPT, #PTFam and/or #TravelPT, just to name a few.

Still don’t get it? Start one, follow me, then tag me @AprilFajardoPT in your first tweet! Be part of the conversation.

PT Conferences
National Conferences: Have you ever been to National Student Conclave, Combined Sections Meeting (CSM), or NEXT?  It’s how the kids say, “lit?”  Yesss, LIT!!!! Everyone comes to this conference to learn, but one of the most important aspects of these conferences is the opportunity to formulate connections.  If you’ve been active on social media, meet some of those you follow on Twitter at one of these conferences.  You get to attend a multitude of receptions based on your interests and involvement from Alumni events to Section events.  The exhibit hall is equipped with the latest physical therapy gadgets and with recruiters from every corner of the US.  The

International PT Conference: This coming year, I plan on attending the World Congress of Physical Therapy on July 2nd-4th in Capetown, South Africa.  I look forward to the opportunity to learn from and engage with physiotherapists around the world.  Sounds enticing, doesn’t it?  Well, the early registration deadline is November 30th.  Join me and check out their website at http://www.wcpt.org/congress.

Professional Leadership
I’ve been on the go as a traveler; however, I’ve stayed engaged through the pursuit of my passions in professional development, engagement, APTA membership, global health, and service.  I currently serve as The Academy of Neurologic PT’s membership and public relations committee member, an Early Career Team committee member, and the PT Day of Service’s Global Affairs Chair.  My role in all these leadership positions has been location independent.  If I can do it, you can too!  Not sure where to start?  Fill out the APTA Volunteer Interest Pool at http://www.apta.org/VolunteerGroups/ or email the APTA Executive Director of the Section you want to get involved in at http://www.apta.org/Sections/.

Continuing Education Courses
Every state has a different set of requirements for continuing education courses.  However, I’ve found that the most helpful courses have been those developed by a specific section of the APTA.  I’ve taken a continuing education course on Parkinson’s Disease developed by the Academy of the Neurologic PT.  Terry Ellis, PhD, PT, NCS of Boston University  and Lee Dibble, PhD, PT of University of Utah taught the course through the integration of the evidence and its clinical application.  So if there’s a specific topic you want to learn about, check out what courses are provided by the appropriate APTA section.

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The New Grad Dilemma

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new grad therapist travelNote: I have included a lot of links in this piece and there is a ton of information beyond this article through those links. If you are a new grad therapist looking into travel, take the time to explore these links. Some are other pieces about new grads traveling, some are about professional development, and some are conversations on the discussion board that are pertinent. Note 2: I’m going to write this post using “Physical Therapist” language, but I believe this topic applies to speech and occupational therapists as well. I feel passionately about this particular post and found myself getting bogged down in language trying to be more inclusive of all therapists – so, forgive me, I really mean all therapists, but as a PT, I just write more gooder when I can write in the terms most familiar to me.

In the last couple months, I have written and spoken with quite a few new grad physical therapists who are going straight to traveling after graduation. With several of these new grads, I have had the opportunity to give my typical schpeel:

I do not believe you should travel as an immediate new grad therapist. I believe you need at least a brief experience as a PT with your own patients and own license alongside other experienced therapists to get to know yourself as a clinician and what life as a professional in a good clinical setting is like. That way, when you run into employment, management, or ethical red flags on assignment, you can recognize them and react appropriately. As a student PT, you have gained great knowledge that is more up to date and in depth than many currently practicing clinicians. You have also likely managed your own patient case load and treated a wide variety of cases. But, you have never done this without a safety net – with everyone expecting you to be the person with the answers. Do you need to be an expert clinician to be a successful traveler? Absolutely not, but I recommend you have some sort of professional experience, because there is frequently less support around you as a traveler than there would be in a more stable environment. I do not think you should travel right out of school, but if you are determined to, I would like to help you down the path to a better traveling experience.

So, in summary: Don’t travel immediately out of school, but if you do, I’d like to help you along the way.

What has my experience with giving this advice been? Failure. Despite my advice, just about every new grad physical therapist I talked to this summer is already working in a travel job or currently traveling to their first assignment. I have lost them to the awesome, kick-ass world of traveling therapy. Can I really blame them? No, being a traveling PT has a lot of benefits and upside, but I hope I can still save a few of you who haven’t signed travel contracts yet. I plead with you, just get a brief stretch of experience as a therapist before you travel.

I’ve written a lot on this topic in years past. I’ll try not to be redundant and instead, as mentioned above, link out to the things I have written in the past. If you are a new grad considering travel PT, earnestly consider whether traveling therapy is the best thing for you right now. Maybe it is, life changes fast and your window to travel may be closing soon, but if you can delay travel for 6 to 12 months, it will improve your experience. What follows is a mixture of “why you shouldn’t” and “if you do” advice.

With the new grad therapists I have been talking to, the most prevalent challenge I have been finding is predatory recruiters who don’t care who you are and who you want to be as a professional. These recruiters are only motivated by the fact that they get paid if they place you in a job. I’m generalizing, but the more predatory recruiters tend to be in the really big recruiting agencies that are staffing-factories. Finding a recruiter as your “employer” is the same as if you were looking for a permanent employer. You would want a clinical employer that allows you to spend solid one-on-one time with each of your patients. Likewise, you want to find a recruiter who has the time to get to know you and give you some personal attention. When working with a recruiter (and I recommend you work with 2 or 3), ask yourself these questions:

1. Does this recruiter know or remember anything about me personally or professionally?
2. Does this recruiter care if I get placed in a good job?
3. Am I steering the conversation of where I am going to work? (or is the recruiter?)

If the answer to any 1 of these 3 questions is “No,” find another recruiter. Don’t worry, there are over 300 Joint Commission accredited recruiting agencies, you’ll find another recruiter. Your recruiter should be WORKING FOR YOU to put you in a situation that best fits your needs and sets you up to grow as a professional. The predictable next-step with any predatory recruiter is a low-ball offer to work at a facility with no other PTs but likely an ungodly number of support staff for you to supervise. In this conversation going on at the discussion board (which I highly recommend you read), one new grad mentions a job offer where he would be the only PT at the facility with 3 PTAs. Which brings another three questions to my mind:

1. If the facility needs a traveler, who is supervising the PTAs now?
2. Does a therapist supervising 3 assistants actually get to treat any patients of their own?
3. How unbelievably bad is this facility that they are willing to hire a new grad they have never met in person to be their only therapist?

Forgive me, I’m just a worried big-brother-PT trying to keep his siblings out of trouble. I know you guys are all (mostly) super-intelligent people and see the red lights flashing on this job offer, but I want to assure you that you have choices and should never-ever under any circumstances work for a recruiter who offers you a job like the one described above – pass on it, this job can be somebody else’s nightmare. I got really lucky with my first assignment, but took time looking for a recruiter that was willing to hold my hand throughout the process. Because I was working at a permanent job, I had the luxury of taking my time to research staffing agencies and search for a job. When I found the recruiter I would eventually take my first assignment with, we searched together for a job that would allow me to work in outpatient and would have other PTs around for my mentoring and growth. It took a few weeks of patience, but that assignment eventually came up. I interviewed and accepted the job, and I extended my contract there twice to ultimately stay 10 months because it was such a great fit for me and satisfied my need for growth as a new therapist – this, ideally, is what your experience should be as a new grad exploring travel therapy. Your recruiter should be some sort of a cross between a teacher and companion who can appreciate what you need in a job and what strengths you have to offer a potential employer. Here’s an older discussion board thread discussing travel as a new grad and selecting your first job.

Let’s talk about why a facility needs to hire a traveler, because I think it is central to why some travel assignments are better than others and why you should have some experience before you travel. A facility hires travelers because they are understaffed. A facility can be understaffed for a number of very benign reasons – an employee is out temporarily for illness or maternity leave, the geographic location is difficult to attract highly educated professionals to, the business has recently expanded or gone through a structural change and is spread thin on staffing, or the area doesn’t have any PT programs nearby so there is a chronic shortage. If you’re discerning, patient, and lucky enough, these are the jobs you will take consistently as a traveler. These facilities generally care about their patients, and, because they care, they will be expecting you to bring a certain established skill-set with you to hit the floor running and start treating patients confidently soon after you start. If you approach the job selection process with little care of where you work and no experience to demonstrate any specific skill set, you’re more likely to find yourself in the facilities that have staffing issues for the other, more sinister reasons – these places are willing to hire any warm body with a license. Facilities can have staffing issues because management is awful, productivity expectations are too high, or the business is unethical. The therapists that put themselves in the situation of working for the clinics with the worse kind of staffing issues are not going to have a good professional life. They will experience stress and burnout, and these are the people you will meet who are cynical about therapy and healthcare business in general. With a little bit of effort and patience, you can dodge lousy assignments – when the red flags go up, pay attention to your gut. If it sounds like a lousy situation, it is. If you can get yourself a year or even just a few months of experience before traveling, your marketability improves dramatically and the quality of jobs available to you will grow.

The reason I feel the need to warn you all about the dark side of traveling as a new grad is because I care greatly about our profession. We are uniquely situated to do great things in healthcare. We are primed to heal patients conservatively without medication or surgery, to heal and promote health in many different venues, and to prevent pain and disease in the first place. All of these things save patients and insurance companies a great deal of money versus other treatment options and will ultimately be our golden ticket as everyone continues to age. In order for our profession to best seize these opportunities, we need to cultivate the best clinicians, and I don’t think starting out as a traveler with zero professional experience will make you the best clinician and ambassador of our profession that you have the potential to be. Just a little time before you travel will get you grounded and set a baseline for your future experiences. There are great advantages professionally and clinically to being a traveler – if you travel for multiple years, you will eventually work in more settings than you ever dreamed of. You will treat patients of more different backgrounds and cultures than you could never imagine, and you will be one of the most well-rounded clinicians with more diverse clinical and world experiences than any of your non-traveler colleagues. Without experience in the setting you would ultimately like to work in, you are more likely to aimless drift from lousy assignment to lousy assignment without gaining a good foothold on who you are as a clinician when you are at your best. As a traveler, professional growth is a solitary experience, you really need to be on the right path when you start. Please, I beg you, travel, it is a fantastic experience, but get just a tiny bit of professional experience first – in the long run, you will be more successful in your travels and you will be a better representative of our profession to your patients and co-workers.