The #1 Key to PT Job Security
One of the biggest concerns soon-to-be travelers have (at least as expressed to me) is the nagging worry that there will come a time in which the simply cannot find a job. Involuntarily unemployed. It is an understandable concern. Especially if they are still drowning in school debt or have made poor financial decisions in the past that they are trying to claw their way out of. But fear not – the #1 Key to PT job security is firmly within your control.
Professional Excellence
In the world of travel therapy it is a common misconception that we flitter across the country skipping job to job frivolously, leaving little more than exhaust plumes from our tailpipe in our wake. Little account is taken for the thousands of hours of patient care and hundreds of co-worker interactions that occur along the way.
Maximizing your professional impact is the only way to truly be in control of your career direction. Sure, being a traveler does come with less administrative oversight and it is easy for weak minded therapists to fall through the cracks and merely tow the status quo. But since you are reading this I think it is fair to assume you are not one of these people.
Professional excellence is difficult for any therapist, but even more so for the traveler. Travelers are often bouncing into and out of multiple clinic settings and states. Navigating the tricky waters of patients varying health beliefs across the country and evidence based practice. It takes a lot of effort. But it is totally worth it.
Ellen and I have now signed 12 different contracts since leaving our “perm” jobs a few years back. Of those 12 (this upcoming contract included) 5 were positions that were created specifically for us by facilities at which we had worked in the past. In 3 of those instances, the circumstances surrounding the contracts worked in our favor to create a pseudo-bidding war for our services, as other clinics were also interested in our services.
Sure, we have had the benefit of being a travel therapy team. Pushing each other to think in different ways about our patients and finding new ways to challenge our abilities. But even with that support it is still tough to maintain focus. To always put patient needs first and convenience (or documentation) second. Professional excellence, however, is what has separated us from other therapists that have come through the very same clinics that request us to come back (our crazy adventure stories help too).
Wouldn’t it be nice to have peace of mind knowing that at any time you can have a great job in an amazing location, with just a phone call?
You can create this for yourself. Yes, it is going to take some work. Maybe you need to brush up on some pain science research, or your ASIA levels, or even your professional communication skills. Take some time and look at your professional life with an honest gaze. We all have areas to grow and develop. I’m super uncomfortable with wounds and severe patients with dementia. Guess what I am going to be extra focused on during this next contract?
There are no free passes in todays healthcare landscape. Becoming an expert clinician is difficult work. After years of schooling we do not like to hear that more effort is going to have to come. Heck, just for this reason I expect this post to be one of my least shared to date. But professional excellence is more important than you can imagine. It is better for the patients, and better for your career. As the landscape of healthcare changes, job security could be hard to come by. But no matter how scarce work may become, the desire for top notch therapists will never cease.
Written by: Stephen Stockhausen, PT, DPT, OCS
