It used to be you could be one with a Bachelors…currently a Masters, and now the kids will have to have a doctorate? What’s up with that?
The scope of work and knowledge required of OT/PT’s have increased therefore additional training/education is necessary. Some states allow people to seek treatment from a PT without a referral from an MD.
At doctorate simply means that you have reached the terminal point of education or the highest academic degree in your particular field.
Here is an article about the transition.
http://www2.paeaonline.org/index.php?ht=a/GetDocumentAction/i/69169SimilarYou
Of course it could just be all about the money, lol.
OT requires a masters.
PT is the one that currently requires a doctorate.
I’m a speech pathologist…masters has been required since the mid 1970’s.
The DPT is a professional doctorate, not a research doctorate.
At our flagship school, kids applying in the summer 2017 and after will be applying for the Doctoral program. Crazy.
Why is that crazy @conmama ?
@conmama - what is your state flagship? So they are moving to a 6/7 year direct entry DPT program?
There is a research component to all DPT programs . They develop new assessments and treatment strategies , and develop adaptive equipment as well.
I have the highest regard for PTs as medical professionals. They have enormous knowledge of the body and can diagnose and treat like MDs (my insurance does not require a referral for a PT). I have a family member who had a chronic condition - had been to over a dozen MDs of various specialities with no improvement until a wonderful PT properly diagnosed and treated the condition. PTs and OTs are the doctors of the future - they will be the ones “hands on” treating our aging population (along with NP and PAs) while MD’s become more of the “technician” doing the surgeries, research, etc.
Here is another source for information on the Standards for DPT
@romanigypsyeyes Here’s an explanation by the APTA.
http://www.apta.org/PostprofessionalDegree/TransitionDPTFAQs/
Your PTs have been grandfathered in , and allowed to practice with their current degree. I also have a bachelor 's degree , and was grandfathered in as an OT when the educational requirement changed to a masters level .
Yes, my question is what @fallenchemist is restating. I have a son who would is researching careers, and he knows he would like to be in a field like this or similar to it. But the amount of schooling and cost will probably seem daunting and prohibitive. What’s wrong with stopping with a masters, then experience? It’s almost as if they just want to make more money.
I am certainly no expert in this field so I may be talking out of my hat, but I suspect that is part of it. Yet to be fair, this also strikes me as an area where the knowledge base has gotten so vast that there is a real need to keep moving the bar up in order to insure the standard of quality the field can now provide is more likely to be met.
I have both a PhD and a clinical doctorate in an unrelated health care field. The education for each was entirely different! The PhD was harder won. The clinical degree was more expensive. A lot of health care fields are moving to requiring the doctorate. There is legitimately more to learn, and having people without the necessary knowledge practicing is not a good thing. In some cases, the externship year has been wrapped into the degree, not something one does after the Masters (which isn’t even an option anymore.). I think that liability in the heath care field may have something to do with it also.
The shift is not coming from the universities but from the professional organizations. The universities probably lose money as fewer people are willing to commit to a 4 year doctoral programs than a 2 year Masters. They also need to provide more courses for which they need more faculty (often hiring part time instructors on the cheap. I taught in my old program, earning about $4500 for a semester! Northeastern University in case anyone is wondering.) There may also be shortages in clinicians as a result of the longer, more expensive (for the students) programs.
As someone who has been a registered Occupational Therapist for over the past 31 years, I’ve seen some major changes in healthcare. Increased time to complete a degree is one of them. I can assure you that the clinicians themselves are not reaping greater salaries with higher degrees . I have supervised many students in my career, as well people who are seeking volunteer hours to even apply to a program. I can’t tell you how many people “who would like to be in a career or something like this " have a very limited understanding of what the field even entails. Their research includes a Google search of “careers that I can make more than 50,000 a year” or " careers where I can help people”. When I ask a volunteer why they want to be an OT or PT, many say" So I can make a lot of money" or “I want to help people " or " I want a career where I never have to worry about having a job” . Few can articulate specific , therapy related reasons. Many have no idea how competitive it is to be admitted into a program. Many have no idea the course of education needed to compete the degrees or maintain licensure . They don’t realize that they will be required to work other than 9-5 hours , often on holidays or weekends. There are many careers that someone can “help people” that people overlook because they can’t make a lot of money including firefighter , teacher, police officer , EMT, etcetera . Why not one of them? Too often it’s because the people seeking the degree choose it to make " a lot of money ." So , if raising the educational requirements helps weed out people who are in it for questionable reasons, I’m all for it.
In aside , I have never seen any other profession where the professionals are asked to justify their education needed to practice. I would never ask an attorney, engineer, physician , teacher, business person why they had to complete the education they did for their job . Frankly, it’s rude . Educate yourself as to what a job truly entails , and you’ll understand .
@conmama Your son may want to investigate orthotist/ prosthetist programs. It is currently a masters level profession that is experiencing a shortage right now .
Moderator’s Note: There was a good number of posts which I deleted that were off the original topic of the Doctorate requirement for OT and PT schools. If you’d like to start up a separate thread on the topic of other terminal degrees and the value of them, feel free.
I agree with @carolinamom2boys. The knowledge base for allied health professions has increased exponentially, as well as the areas they address in their therapies. In addition, the requirement for externships as part of the program is an important one…and that takes time to complete as well. Getting supervised clinical hours in several different clinical settings is important in these fields.
I don’t think it’s all about making money. I think it takes this long to actually teach all of this information to the aspiring allied health care professionals.
Keep in mind also, many of these masters programs started off as one year programs. Now, I can’t think of one that is less than two years. The information is huge.
OP, if it is just the type of work he wants to do and not the degree he can satisfy that with less training. At the big box PT centers near me patients only see a PT on their intake and final visits. Treatments are performed by individuals with an exercise certificate or an associate’s degree in health.
In an era where some states allow direct-entry midwives (not certified nurse midwives, who are trained professionals, but the DEMs, who are untrained and whose “certification” is an unscientific joke) it is refreshing to see the PT and OT communities up their game like this. Good for them.