therapists pay

nurs4kids · May 27, 2001

First let me say I have no family or friends that are PT's. Now. I don't know where you work or where you've observed therapist and/or their assistants, but there's much more to their jobs than you described. I've only watched them from the sideline, so I'll not attempt to describe their jobs. But what I do know is they do alot more than "turn on a radio or help make a doormat". Why do we continue to fuss about other professions salaries? It's a free country; if you'd rather be doing their job, then go to school and get your degree for PT/OT. We can't justify our pay by comparing it to another profession. The only way we can better ourselves is to worry about ourselves and quit comparing apples to oranges.

nurs4kids · May 27, 2001

It's not equal pay for equal work. It's equal pay for equal education. A PT requires a minimum BS, RN doesn't. If it's equal pay for equal work, then the guy digging ditches deserves a helluva lot more money than me. It's also supply and demand. Until recently, PT's were in very short supply; hence salaries increased. Now that there's an overabundance of PT/OT, the salary is actually decreasing, not just freezing. I don't know, maybe the nurses in my hospital just have it very easy, and the PT very hard, but I don't see their jobs as much easier than ours. The last thing I want is the responsibility of ambulating a 300lb, post spinal fusion for the first time. Therapist are a very important role in healthcare, and demeaning their jobs will NOT make ours more respected!!

Janet, my coworker's wife is an OT and he agrees totally that she's overpaid. His best friend is an OT and can't find a job. Do you think there's any relation in pay and lack of jobs??

[ May 27, 2001: Message edited by: nurs4kids ]

Charles S. Smith, RN, MS · May 27, 2001

Originally posted by nurs4kids:
It's not equal pay for equal work. It's equal pay for equal education. A PT requires a minimum BS, RN doesn't. If it's equal pay for equal work, then the guy digging ditches deserves a helluva lot more money than me. It's also supply and demand. Until recently, PT's were in very short supply; hence salaries increased. Now that there's an overabundance of PT/OT, the salary is actually decreasing, not just freezing. I don't know, maybe the nurses in my hospital just have it very easy, and the PT very hard, but I don't see their jobs as much easier than ours. The last thing I want is the responsibility of ambulating a 300lb, post spinal fusion for the first time. Therapist are a very important role in healthcare, and demeaning their jobs will NOT make ours more respected!!
Janet, my coworker's wife is an OT and he agrees totally that she's overpaid. His best friend is an OT and can't find a job. Do you think there's any relation in pay and lack of jobs??
[ May 27, 2001: Message edited by: nurs4kids ]

You are right on the money Nurse4kids...The Physical Therapy professionals decided some time ago to creatively manage the supply and demand issue for their profession by changing the minimum educational standard to the Masters Degree. What this accomplished was to elevate the standards for the profession and controlling the numbers of PTs in the market place (once all the PTs who were grandfathered in left the market place by attrition). By controlling the numbers and elevating the standards, they have been able to demand a far superior wage than previously when there raw numbers were high and there were lots of PTs competing for the same jobs. Nurses MUST take this same lesson to heart. Only by elevating our standards, changing the paradigm of professional nursing and controlling/managing the numbers of Professional Registered Nurses in the market place, will we ever be in a place to truly negotiate for dollars that are appropriate to our skills, talents and expertise. As an ADN grad, I have always supported BSN minimum entry into practice. Later in life I came to believe and understand that we must go a step further and look at the MS as the minimum preparation for professional nursing.

regards

chas

fiestynurse · May 28, 2001

Charles, I have heard that same educational issue discussed for the last 20 years. In 1978, a visiting Professor spoke to my graduating class, encouraging all of us to get our masters degrees because that will be the minimum educational requirement for nurses in the years to come. What is different about the leadership and organizing of the physical therapists? Why can't nurses move forward?

P.S. Nurs4kids, do you really think that the guy digging ditches deserves a better wage than you?

nurs4kids · May 28, 2001

chas,

As an ASN nurse, I totally agree. The MINIMUM standard should be BSN if we want to be considered "professionals". Not that I feel it makes you a better nurse, but if we're going to compare ourselves with other professions, then we must hold ourselves to the same standards.

Feisty,

YOU said "EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK", not me. I only intended to point out that a ditch digger works harder than me. Never did I say that I thought he should make more!

tiger · May 28, 2001

i have worked in rehab for 10 years and i actually do have friends that are in the therapy depts. i have nothing personal against them i am just discussing the salaries compared to responsibilities. i really have seen many times the rec therapy turn on a radio at the patients bedside and then move on. that patient will be charged for a 45 minute session though.nursing has much more responsibility for less pay. everybody is talking about the nursing shortage and why. i.m just giving one reason.

fiestynurse · May 28, 2001

It's about "EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK" I totally disagree with many of your comments Nurs4kids. Many legitimate studies have been done comparing nurses salaries to other professions. They look at education, job stress, and responsibilities. It's not about comparing apples to oranges. Nurses have always come up short when it comes to pay. I have always wondered why Physical therapists, Occupational Therapists, Pharmacists make more money than me. I am with Janet on this one. We should get paid a comparable salary for what we are good at and what we enjoy!

[ May 27, 2001: Message edited by: feistynurse ]

P_RN, ADN, RN · May 28, 2001

I looked at a couple of the salaries and they seemed rather low. A NP for $22.00? RN $14.71 to start? In SC it's $16.05.

All our PTs were Master's prepared and they worked their buns off. I think they deserve what they get. That doesn't mean I think more of them than nurses. I do think nurses have a unique "job description" that doesn't compare with anyone else. But if you look at the traditional jobs that require saving lives, getting your hands dirty, being in the presence of danger....cops, firemen, EMTs and Paramedics....Nurses seem to be lumped in there.....There were some days I would swear that a nurse should be paid $100 an hour!!! But you know, it's NOT just the MONEY!!!

tiger · May 29, 2001

i still feel like nursing deals with life and death issues while therapies do not and therefore we have more responsibility and should have more pay. maybe if we truly go into a nursing shortage then the hospitals etc... will realize how important the nurses are.

Mijourney · May 29, 2001

Originally posted by janetl:
i still feel like nursing deals with life and death issues while therapies do not and therefore we have more responsibility and should have more pay. maybe if we truly go into a nursing shortage then the hospitals etc... will realize how important the nurses are.

Hi janetl. I can understand where you're coming from with your comments. I agree we should have more pay, better working conditions, no mandatory OT, and benefits. Not being a therapist either,to take a cue from nurs4kids, I can't comment on the depth of a therapist's job. I do know that when I took general education classes for my BSN, that I had students in my class planning to become a therapist, and their course curriculum, in my school, was alot tougher than the generic BSN student. In fact, I think they were required to take many of the same classes as those who were planning to go to pharmacy school. As already have been pointed out, and as I'm aware, many entry level programs for therapy have been converted to graduate level. Even social work is now at the graduate level.

As Charles pointed out, graduate level practitioners have more opportunity to call their own shots when it comes to their livelihood. I know several social workers who are in private practice as licensed counselors. We all can probably name at least one therapy center where there are licensed therapists running the center.

Janetl, I appreciate where you're coming from, but unfortunately, I also see where nursing is going as well, nursing shortage and all. As a home health nurse, the only thing I would ask the therapists is whether you can do your own home health admissions?