PDFE #4 "Career Opportunities in Sports Related Fields"

Interview with Physical Therapist
This interview was conducted with the owner of Rome Rehabilitation Center in Rome, GA.  Her name is Tamsen Beasley and she opened this clinic in Rome about eleven years ago.  She has approximately twenty-five years of professional experience as a licensed physical therapist.  This interview was held on Thursday, September 30, 2010 around 5:00 pm. 

• What degrees do you hold in your field and what schools did you attend?

I hold a Masters of Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Masters in Physical Therapy from the University of South Alabama.  I am also a certified Hand Therapist. 

• What would you say are some of the positive and negative qualities of working in a large hospital setting?

I have found through my experience starting out in a large hospital, that a positive aspect of that setting would be the wide variety of patients that you get exposed to.  There are numerous diagnoses that you learn about and receive first-hand experience working with everyone.  A negative quality of the hospital setting would have to be the politics around the management of the hospital.  Patients are numbers to most therapists and doctors in the hospital and they push productivity as fast as they possibly can.  I would also have less time to develop relationships with my patients in the hospital, which was definitely a drawback for me.

• What is one benefit and drawback to owning your own clinical practice or just working in a smaller setting?

The benefit to owning your own practice is how much autonomy there is.  I am able to have my own schedule, spend more time with my family, and am able to work with patients on a personal level without the interference of management.  One drawback would have to be all of the financial burdens you are solely responsible for as your own boss. 

• Could you explain the main distinction, in your own opinion, between physical and occupational therapy?

It is much easier to understand the difference in terms of an example.  Physical therapists work to help a patient walk and deal more with the scientific background behind neuromuscular challenges such as bone and joint disorders.  On the other side, occupational therapists will teach a patient how to regain function in some aspect of their 'occupation' whether it be playing, writing, job-related, or daily living activities.  Occupational therapists work more on the functional end of rehabilitation. 

• What are some specializations that are available to physical and/or occupational therapists?

Physical therapists usually specialize in hand therapy, sports rehab, and pediatrics.  Occupational therapists can specialize in psych hospitals, hand therapy, geriatrics, and pediatrics. 

• In your field, are you required to get re certified or complete ongoing job training in order to still hold your license to practice?

We always have to obtain 40 hours of continuing education courses annually.  For hand therapists, we get re certified every 5 years, for physical therapists in Georgia, it's every 2 years.  Most of the courses and conferences I attend are very specific research and new curriculum being developed.  I do believe this is a positive aspect of the field, because it requires that therapists still be up-to-date on the research currently going on in the field.

• What direction do you see physical therapy moving toward in the future?

I see the field becoming more of a teaching, educational career and less of a hands-on field.  I predict less interaction with patients and the field will likely become heavily influenced by insurance companies.

• How has your field changed since you first started practicing?

It used to be more of a hands-on approach to working with patients, and now it's become a more professional field that is heavily dependent on insurance companies.  Insurance is definitely one of the problems with providing healthcare today.  In the past, doctors would have some say over which therapist should work with a certain patient, but now patients are usually a number, especially in the hospitals.  Doctors have less control and therapists spend less and less time interacting with their patients.  The co-pays for services are extremely higher today and therapy sessions are usually not one-on-one anymore. 

• What are some of the common injuries you see on a daily basis at your practice?

I usually work with orthopedic injuries of the upper extremities with the hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder, and arm.  I see mostly fractures, with some tendon and nerve lacerations. 

• Approximately how many patients do you see on a typical day?

I usually see 10-12 scheduled patients, but at my satellite office that is located outside of a hand surgeon's clinic, I take walk-ins as well as scheduled patients. 

• In what way has the current economic situation affected the patient load of your business?

Since co-pays are now much higher, patients with little insurance do not come in for physical therapy and insurance usually limits the number of visits they will cover.  I also find it difficult to hire more help and end up usually dividing more work loads between my current employees. 

• Did you learn how to work in your current job setting when you were in physical therapy school or did you learn more through the experience of your first job?

School definitely gives you a fundamental background that covers the basics of your field, but you don't actually learn how to work with patients until you just start working in the field.