<p>I don’t think she can go wrong either way, but I would like to add that all of the wonderful positives that folks above mentioned for nursing also can be said for PT. </p>
<p>There are lots of jobs available; PTs can find work anywhere, for any amount of hours that they want to work (or not); they don’t have to work weekends or holidays, and there are many different ways to be a PT, contrary to what katie93mom says. Yes, you can work in a hospital, rehabilitation center, or outpatient center, and have a wide variety of patients at each. But you can also work in home health, hospice care, the school system working with all different types of students with disabilities from age 3-21, Birth-3 in home. There are so many specialites, just like nursing, like orthopedics, geriatrics, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, pediatrics, seating/positioning of wheelchairs, wound care, sports training, prosthetics, school system, burns, stroke, occupational/workplace, health, diabetes (including wound care and peripheral neuropathy), pain management, lymphedema, TENS, to name some off the top of my head. You have to take specialized classes or have training in these areas. You can also go into management or research, or open your own private practice. For example, I knew someone who specialized in physical therapy for pregnant women. </p>
<p>There are tons of overseas opportunities; hospitals, schools, non-profit organizations, etc. I have done some (I am an OT), and know of many others who have gone to all kinds of places, Egypt, Africa, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Haiti, Cambodia, New Zealand.</p>
<p>With PT you usually get to work with a patient 1:1; sometimes for an extended period of time. Each person and their issue is a puzzle that a PT gets to figure out and help to get that person more functional with the specialized knowledge base they have. </p>
<p>That being said, there are some drawbacks. The educational requirements are long, arduous, and expensive. Depending on where you work, productivity requirements can be difficult. There is a lot of physical activity, so you should be or stay in good shape. I don’t know a PT who doesn’t take care of him or herself. As mentioned above, you can get injured, but your size or the size of the patient should not be a factor in injury, as this is part of the training; it is all physics.</p>
<p>She may want to get some copies of the different professional’s magazine, and see what articles she is most drawn to. I know one PT magazine is called Advance for Physical Therapy Practitioners, which she should be able to find online. I don’t know what a similar nursing magazine would be. </p>
<p>Good luck to D and her decision; she has picked two wonderful professions.</p>