| Career Web Project | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| by Melanie Burton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This is my career web page. I am looking into going into physical therapy because it interest me and I have been told that I would be good at it. Here is the information I found. Physical therapy is a good job with good pay and demand for the job. Physical therapy is an applied science, so one needs good knowledge in several basic sciences and the ability to apply that knowledge to the patients. There is a great need for physical therapists. Predicted need by the year 2000 is 23,000 unfilled positions due to the lack of qualified therapists. The ways in which one could work in physical therapy include acute care, neuro-rehab, and outpatient care. Acute care includes the care right after surgery, while the patient is still in the hospital. Neuro care is when the patients do not need as much supervision. It includes post-cerebral vascular accident patients, brain and spinal injuries. Neuro can also include speech therapy, occupational and other types of rehabilitative therapy. Outpatient therapy is the most common and the easiest in which to be self-employed. Outpatients live at home and are not as ill. A therapist could specialize in sports, orthopedic, work-rehab, geriatrics, home health, and my choice of pediatrics. Physical therapy is a flexible job, in which one could work as little as two or three hours a week and can do it in the patient's or their own home. Pay for physical therapy is very good. New graduates pay ranges from $30,000 to $55,000. Salaries are high on the east and west coasts and the general ceiling of therapist is between $60 and 80,000. For private practice, one could earn between $100,000 and $200,000 per year. Private practice can have its downfalls though. Looking at the basic information here, I would say that physical therapy is a good career choice for me. I scored high for the health sciences in the finding my major test. It would fit in with my lifestyle since I like to work when I want to and set my hours. I could work more during the week and then have the weekends free for doing things with my horses. I would eventually like to have a family, and this would fit in with those plans. Because of the demand for physical therapist, I would be able to find a job out of school and be able to be pretty secure in keeping the job in the future as demand for therapist will probably rise. I could definitely live off of the projected salary, keeping my horses and being able to pay to show them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Basic knowledge of physical therapy: 1)http://www.excite.com/guide/health/professional_medicine/specialties/physical_therapy 2)http://stats/bls.gov/oes/national/oes32308.htm Here are two societies that I found to have information on physical therapy. 1.www.apta.org/ 2.www.tpta.org/ College links: 1.www.ufl.edu/ 2.www.uge.edu Business links: 1.www.comlumbia-nfrmc.com/index.html 2.http://www.cmrg.com/cmrg-cfmfiles/detail.cfm/4394710RT.htm 3.http://narha.org/ Other sources: 1) Guide to Physical Therapy Practice American PT Association Published by APTA 1998 CFCC/Ocala/Reserves 2) Home Health and Rehabilitaion Edited by Bella J May Published by -Philadelphia FA Davis 1999 Health Science Center Call # WB 320 H765 1999 3) Pediatric Physical Therapy 3rd edition Published by- Philadelphia:Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 1999 Health Science Center Call WB460 P371 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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It is suggested that you take Zoology 260, or elementary human anatomy. If you like it you will probably like physical therapy. If you want to do physical therapy, one of the best things that you can do is to volunteer at a clinic. You will be able to watch them work and decide if it is for you and will help to encourage you to be a better student. Schools also have volunteer requirements to get in, between 100-300 hours. Another good thing to do is to get on the school's mailing list. Getting to know students who have the same goal is also helpful. It is not easy to get into physical therapy. You must have at least a 3.5 GPA and good GRE scores. |
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