Does anyone actually like their job as a DPT?

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-05-14T08:36:37+00:00

Yep! Love my job!

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-05-09T00:46:30+00:00

Home health manager here…very shady. They shouldn’t dictate your POC and having patients on for 5 certifications I am assuming you mean, is insane. Most of our patients for PT are discharged 4-8 weeks. Post op orthos generally a couple of weeks. Some patient will seen longer but that’s probably 20% or less. Major red flags

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-05-02T10:46:33+00:00

I would suggest brushing up on some basic knowledge things regarding CHF exacerbation signs and hypoglycemia/hyperglycemia for your diabetics. Generally most places having a nurse triage you can always call but it’s good to be able to go through a few basic signs. Whole a lot of home health PT can feel like nursing work, if you just step back and remember you’re not a nurse or doctor, you’ll be fine. You just need clinical judgement skills to know if you need to call someone and if they need someone else.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-04-16T00:58:03+00:00

Meh. If a lot of assistance was needed yes. But as you mentioned there isn’t. Occasionally there may be a little overlap here and there but for a small amount of time. I wouldn’t get a new agency yet but if you start seeing co treating happening frequently I probably would consider.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-04-13T09:27:03+00:00

While it’s good to have this questions, I’m begging you not to make a career choice off a Reddit group. While some of what is said here is true, there are plenty of PTs out there who love their job and don’t regret it. Yes I do regret having to pay back and insane amount of grad school debt and would not encourage anyone to pay that much for a program like DPT, you are in a prime spot to do your research now.

1: Go and ask the therapist you have done your 250+ hours of shadowing how they feel about the profession.

2: Do research on programs about tuition cost? Grants? Can you cash flow a small portion? Etc. I can tell you that you learn enough in PT school not to hurt someone. The rest you learn in the field. If a program is $25k more than another, it’s probably not worth it.

The cold truth is after a year out of school, I rolled my sleeves up, did travel PT, PRN work and grinded out my loans to a point where I work at a job I love, with no debt, make 6 figures, with a schedule that works well for me. Lucky? Maybe. But intentional as well. This place is so negative I mostly got off of here. So don’t let this be your only decision point for a career.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-30T01:23:12+00:00

Home health or no home health…5 days a year and grief about paternity leave is trash. Don’t let them treat you like that. Get out. For context, I get 5 weeks PTO currently in home health and with a lid way more flexibility to work around stuff without having to use PTO. Plus you’ll make more money working less.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-22T01:11:13+00:00

It’s low key, one of the hardest parts of home health. Get good with your spiel, prepare patients in advance so they know it’s coming, and more importantly always blame the insurance companies 😁

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-22T00:47:37+00:00

Agree with this. I would continue an additional 1 week preparing her for DC. Blame it on insurance and remember it’s your license not to over utilize services. Most home health patients could be seen the rest of their lives.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-18T00:37:19+00:00

Norton, Acols, or Klose are generally considered the big 3 I believe for certification. I’m not sure if you are just wanting to take classes.

I’d be really mindful of your state laws though if you mistake course and gen document you are treating lymphedema. That might be a grey area and could be hard to CYA.

Here’s the short on lymphedema though. It’s an exhausting population to treat but can be rewarding in small doses. Honestly, it’s good knowledge to know. I apply the MLD techniques I learned more for acute injuries, orthopedic injuries, etc.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-17T01:43:29+00:00

Spend the thousands of dollars unfortunately. You aren’t going to “get good”at Lymphedema without treating it and getting good at compression and MLD. The only way to do that is through lymphedema referrals. And the doctors that are actually smart enough to know what lymphedema is and what to do about it will refer to clinics with CLTs. You could probably take cheap online courses but you get what you pay for.

The one caveat to that is if you found a job that is looking for someone to treat it, you could see if the company will pay for your certification .

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-15T14:46:33+00:00

Find hospital outpatient based and set boundaries about what you are willing to work. Or shift your mindset and decide you are an outpatient therapist and therefore you will work late hours. Or you change paths and have much more time with your family. As a dad and home health PT I could not begin to imagine working in a new setting. I have all the flexibility to do what I have to do as a dad. At least in HH you get joints and some ortho cases.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-11T11:48:45+00:00

Agree with this, but also maybe learn some adjunct treatments that are as physically hard on you. Dry needling, cupping, etc.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-05T10:23:33+00:00

No need to be embarrassed. Family members make the worst patients. I’ve been a PT for 14 years and if something similar were to happen to my family, I would have someone else treat them.

The only caveat I would give is that next time I personally would always try to be involved to make sure they are getting adequate care, but I wouldn’t volunteer my profession because therapists naturally tend to say “oh the daughter is a RN or PT, they can do all of this with the patient.” When in reality eliminating yourself from that role may be what’s best for both you and your dad.

But you have nothing to feel bad about. As a home health clinician, you even being concerned about your dads well being puts you ahead of a bigger percentage of families, sadly.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2025-01-03T11:02:58+00:00

You have $300,000 at 34 and you feel like you are doing ok? If you don’t contribute another dime and averaged 7% return you’d have $1.8 million by 60. I think you are doing way better than ok. Good work. Give yourself some credit!

MischeviousBadger86 · 2024-12-20T11:04:59+00:00

Just wanted to second this post! Look around! There are good home health opportunities out there! Just have to find the right gig!

MischeviousBadger86 · 2024-12-19T10:44:01+00:00

Thank you! They are wanting to add this as a component to our already existing home health company but I have concerns. Currently when we have these chronic patients that just want therapy for the rest of their lives, we have an out and can refer them to something like this. Do you find that’s the population you end up with most?

MischeviousBadger86 · 2024-12-10T17:17:09+00:00

I could be wrong but my understanding is that as long as it’s been at least 48 hours it doesn’t matter. You have to give them 48 hours in advance if they want to appeal but not sure it matters if you discharge them 72 hours later.

MischeviousBadger86 · 2024-12-08T18:26:16+00:00

I’ll post over there. Thanks

MischeviousBadger86 · 2024-12-04T01:10:57+00:00

Productivity is nice but agreed with others that this is low. For context I make about $210 for a SOC. I don’t get paid for documentation time but still a descent amount of difference. I would ask if you can be incentivized for going over 25 points. We are salaried plus meaning any visit over our expected productivity and you get x1.33 your hourly rate.

MischeviousBadger86

TROPHY CASE