@mater treatment is provided athletic trainers or licensed therapy assistants who have anAA degree as a PT assistant or OT assistant , not health.
Assistants follow the treatment plan established by the registered therapist . They have completed internships and specific training . Those "big box PT centers " are just one of many settings PTs work
For some direct entry DPT programs the candidate chooses what their undergraduate degree is (ie. Biomedical Science, Biology, Exercise Science, Athletic Training) and that can fundementally change the the knoweldge and practice base of the DPT. With some the candidate graduates with 2 undergraduate degrees AND the graduate degree.
Training continues after the completion of the degree as well to maintain a license to practice .
Would your son be interested in becoming a PTA or OTA? They are the hands-on people who do much of the therapy work. As you may know, PTA and OTA programs are usually 2-year associates degree programs with good job prospects and fairly good salary potential.
@carolinamom2boys I figured they were grandfathered in. Thanks for the link.
I had several friends in undergrad who wanted to go into PT and/or OT. I wonder if they ended up going on to get their masters (or more).
I wish PT’s getting their doctorates would receive funding like other PhD students do. The amount of debt for physical therapists is a nightmare. There has to be a better way to reward these hard working men and women. I love my physical therapist, and think she deserves to have less debt and more income.
Where would they get funding from? PhD students don’t get it from the university. They get it because their professors are supported by grants that they apply for, and that supports the research efforts of the students who work with them.
My Ph.D student also gets “funding” in the form of a TA stipend. Doesn’t that come from the university?
Yes, that is correct. PhD students can be funded either from grants or teaching assistantships. And the latter comes from the university. Also grants may be to a department, like a training grant, not necessarily an individual professor. But it is pretty standard to get some form of stipend as a PhD student, but you have to work for that stipend and you take far fewer classes. The clinical programs have more classes and you don’t really work in the clinical placements. You learn how and are highly supervised. (It is work for them to train you.)
When D1, now with a DPT degree and D2, now with a MOT degree, were pursuing their graduate degrees they were either in class from 8 am to 5 pm or in clinicals which were 40 hour per week assignments. In both settings, they had still had studying in the evenings. No time really available to be a TA. The only “funding” available in their programs were, for D1, her undergrad merit scholarship extended for her graduate school years because both degrees were earned at the same school and for D2, who went to a different school but also one where she completed both her degrees, her undergrad merit scholarship applied the first year of her grad program (which ran simultaneously with the last year of her bachelor’s degree). I highly encourage high schoolers to apply for the direct entry programs for OT and PT degrees-not only does the assured acceptance into highly competitive programs relieve some stress, but there are considerable cost savings by decreasing the number of years in school.
@carolinamom2boys …thank you for your valued response. Right now he is taking classes for a recreational therapy degree, thinking he may be interested in OT further along. His reasons are he is a very sympathetic person who people like, and he’s the one who wants to help others in some capacity. He has no desire to be a teacher or social worker. Of course OT seemed desirable, the pay is twice as much as RT. But the health field chosen wasn about the money. I’m glad I posted this as it has been enlightening.
Thanks for the recommendation for the other field. I will pass it on.
@carolinamom2boys …I didn’t mean to offend. I just guess that I find it odd that OT have been getting along with a masters. Now it’s,…nope…gotta have more schooling. So…in a few more years, what? I’m a business major. I’ve learned 95% of what I know on the job. I did go back to get my MBA, but just for marketabilites sake. It didn’t make me better at my job…experience did. So, I find it curious why more classroom. I could see more intern hours, practical experience. I am aware that I don’t know if what you learn and tested on is more valuable then just getting out there after a Masters and learning from seasoned people…but obviously someone thinks it is.
IMO @conmama part of the issue of increased education requirements is driven by reimbursement by insurance companies. There has been a recent push for objective , measurable data by insurance companies. While it was once good enough to provide excellent medical care over an extended period of time, the push has been to provide objective, measurable data to support tx in shorter periods of time in the least restrictive environment . Tx has shifted from the hospital settings to the community as cost saving measures. One’s evaluation and treatment planning skills are being challenged daily. The need to evaluate and develop tx plans that can be carried out by assistants in order to save money is the rule of the day. There is a stronger emphasis on evaluation and research to justify your service has pushed the shift to higher educational requirements . Unfortunately , the shift to higher educational standards has not increased salaries. This is purely my opinion based on trends that I have seen in healthcare over the past 10 years . And before this is flagged as political , these changes began before our current administration took office. Good luck to your son. I hope he finds a good match for him.
Times change…and so has the scope of practice for OT, PT and other allied health professionals. The requirements for significant supervised practicum has changed…and so have the types of responsibilities these folks have.
I don’t find it at all odd that schooling takes longer.
“Regardless, inconsistent use of the DPT degree is a source of growing concern to many
because the DPT designation and title currently apply to graduates of any UPT program,
whether entry-level, transitional, or post-professional program of advanced clinical study.35
Entry-level programs stress basic sciences and graduate clinical generalists, while advanced
post-professional programs often focus on clinical skills that prepare clinicians to specialize in
distinct areas of practice.35 Transitional DPT programs purport to upgrade the clinical skills of
practicing physical therapists, but they are considered entry-level clinical degree programs,
not advanced academic degree-granting programs.1 Using one degree title for significantly
different curricula is confusing for the public and for those within the field.35”
I think that the medical profession in general is tryign to push some tasks from MD/DOs to midlevel providers…PTs, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Optometrists where it makes sense. So for OT and PT it seems like they are adding tasks that they can do and have more education to enable that.
That’s the future of medicine in general - pushing tasks away from doctors to lower-level providers. So it’s a good thing, not a bad thing, when those lower-level providers increase their knowledge base and skills.
Can someone please post the link to the article that both @sorghum and @MaterS have quoted as there are several articles on this thread, but the OP did not link any of them. It would be helpful to be able to read the entire article rather than a few quotes. Thank you .
From #1:
@sorghum I can assure you that it is " not all about the money ". It’s also interesting to note the article that you posted was copyrighted in 2002.