Should have been a physical therapist

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After more than 10 years on the floors as a RN i have grown very jealous of physical therapist. Wow what a job of leisure!! Don't have to deal with difficult families or doctors. 2 hour lunches. Great money. Work at their own leisurely pace. Can decide whether or not to see patients depending on patient attitude. Only responsible for your own dept. And if any issue at all arises just tell the nurse and walk away.

Wow I should have been a physical therapist!!!

I worked as a PTA for 5 years then decided to go to nursing school. I worked way harder as a PTA than as a ER nurse. PTs do have to put up with nasty families. As a matter of fact families hold us responsible for making their loved ones "whole" again. Something that just isn't going to happen after having a stroke from using alchohol, cocaine and cigs for years.

Nursing always called us to help them move patients because we know how and nurses are afraid of moving patients sometimes.

We have to answer to insurance, doctors and families on why patients aren't "getting better"

In outpatient working with workers comps who don't want to get better, who aren't compliant with what they need to get better. With families who can't accept that "grammy" just isn't going to recover this time, from stroke number 5 etc.

And I bet PT is way down with the economy now.

Everything always looks better from the outside looking in. And of course there are lazy PT people, just like lazy nurses, techs etc.

Be careful what you wish for.

I for one am happier with nursing. Many more opportunities and better all around pay.

Ditto. I looked at both nursing and PT extensively for quite a few years and and am choosing nursing because of the wider scope of opportunities. Also there are a variety of paths to the RN and then move higher if you want to. OTOH there is only one way to become a PT and are quite a few more hoops to jump through just to qualify for admission to a PT program. Anyone who has a desire to be a PT should go for it but don't do it because you think it's easier than nursing. Why would anyone assume that PT's don't work with families? PT patients don't come from outter space in pods they have families too.

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Specializes in ER, Tele, Cardiac Cath Lab.
Physical Therapy at my facility is horrible, sure they walk the patient and what not but they will then sit them in a chair and never return, but they are smart about it.

They will get the patient out at around 1300 and tell the patient to sit for about 2 hours and then they can return to bed but their shift ends at 1500. They truly are clever.

This has also been my experience with PT at every single hospital i have work at. I have had patients with orders from the doctors 2 or 3 days old and never show up. Also they come to me all the time telling me to call the doctor for this and that. Why cant PT call a doctor? They have more education and make more money.

I have never seen a law stating a PT cant call a doctor.

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Specializes in ICU.
This has also been my experience with PT at every single hospital i have work at. I have had patients with orders from the doctors 2 or 3 days old and never show up. Also they come to me all the time telling me to call the doctor for this and that. Why cant PT call a doctor? They have more education and make more money.

I have never seen a law stating a PT cant call a doctor.

Omg, I agree 100% with everything you've said! I got soooo annoyed the other day! I was asked by a PT to get an activity order resumed from a surgeon. The surgeon came by and I mentioned it; he wrote "resume PT." Well, when the PT came back to look at the order, she said it wasn't good enough, because there was no specific activity order (like up to chair, etc). I'm thinking well... why didn't they tell me exactly how they wanted me to word it for the doctor to write it then? :stone Or maybe write a note or something!?!? Lol. So...of course she then asked me to call and ask the doctor for a more specific activity order (of course I was really busy with more important things) so I told her, "you're probably going to have to talk to Dr. X yourself; he didn't tell me anything other than resume PT." And you know what? Lo and behold, the PT PAGED the doctor HERSELF and wrote a TORB order in the chart.... I was like, a-HA, They DO know how to write their own orders!! :no: ughhghghghghhhh.... wow it felt good to get that out...:bugeyes:

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I have 3 PTs in my family. One is just graduating with his DPT, the other runs a private clinic, and the other is home health. They all are very smart and work very hard. The one who runs a clinic work 12-14/day 4 days a week. He loves his job, as does his wife who is in home health. But they both work very hard.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
i hear what you are saying.

one thing i have noticed is that everyone's job looks easy, looking from the outside in.

it is rarley the case.

good luck to you !

praiser :heartbeat

this is true. this semester i overheard some radiology tech students saying all the rns do is "hand out pills and give shots." then later in the semester i overheard my nursing student classmates say all the radiology techs do is tell people to sit or stand and snap a picture.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

There's this one OT woman where I work that seems to glide through her day with minimal effort. She drives me crazy. She always comes and eagerly asks if the pt can do OT that day and definately seems a little perturbed if he actually can, sometimes arguing a bit that maybe he can't since he was so tired the day before.

When she does work with someone, she appears to mainly do ROM and appears pretty useless to me. PT seems similar, like glorified CNAs. I think some CNAs do a better job. Once I had a PT guy not even bother to check with me before trying to get a guy up. He was having hypotensive issues, had his knee done and had a low H and H due to blood loss during surgery. PT got the guy up, left him up, and disappeared. I walked in the room and my pt did not look good, but pale and diaphoretic. His BP was in the toilet, the CNA and I had to get a third person and heave this large guy back in bed, put him in Trendelenburg, I think I did a fluid bolus and then called the doc, alls well that ends well, but I did a friendly chewing out of PT when he finally showed up.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

Praiser does have a point though...

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

A separate issue...but this makes me think of something related to PT/OT that puzzles me.

Why exactly does PT or OT come to the patient's room to have them do basic ROM when the RN could do it? Why? Is it all about billable fees?

I mean I see PT or OT come and have the patient raise their arms over their head three times holding a bar, chart, and then leave. Or PT comes and walks the patient around the unit once and then leaves. Does this really merit the PT/OT fees for such tasks the RN could do?

I understand the expertise of a PT or OT is needed for more in-depth therapy, though.

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Specializes in Public Health, TB.

99.6% of PTs and OTs I have worked with are great, just like nurses. CNAs, MDs etc. However, I would love to be able to chart " pt not seen due to caseload". :icon_roll

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Specializes in Critical care.

When they come they put 300 pound patients in the chair and leave them there for me to return to the bed. The PT on my floor often lie to the patient and family. They say they are returning later and never do. The patient and family blame me for this.

Man, that really irks me too! It's so much easier to get someone OOB and down to the recliner, instead of pulling someone UP out of a low recliner back to bed. Plus the patient is tired and we don't have those gait belts.

Don't forget that they want you to drop everything to help them when they are ready to see your patient. If I don't help then I take the chance of the patient not being seen at all.

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Specializes in ER, Tele, Cardiac Cath Lab.

Im not sure if PT are scared to talk to doctors or just too lazy. I think the later. Last week a PT is telling me what she needs the doctor to write. I said he is right there just walk over and ask him. She refused and stated the law says a nurse has to do that. When i ask her for a copy of the law she stormed of mad.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I've had pretty good experiences with PTs. I like to check in with them when they come to see a patient that I've been assigned to, will station myself in a spot where I can watch them work with the patient while I chart, and will sometimes include my observations of the PT session in my own nursing notes, if that is an important piece of what the physician is looking at that day. I've found that the PTs respond very positively to collaboration. Of course, some days I am far too slammed to stop running my behind off to chat with the PT, aside from a quick "Hello, yes it would be great if you worked with him.".

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