The physical therapy profession is frequently ranked in the top xyz jobs in the country. Looking at the statistics above, we are seeing that the field may reach saturation in my lifetime.
The previous data doesn’t take into account new school openings, which in my state is projected to graduate an additional 120 PTs per year. This doesn’t take into account the 210+ PTs that already graduate in the set of IL per year.
I write this during the COVID pandemic, which sees many PTs out of work, furloughed or laid off. I can remember during the housing crises of 2008, I thought that I was in a recession-proof job. We are seeing now that this is not the case. I thought that even in the worst times that I would be able to keep my salary steady and have increased buying power during these down times…I was wrong.
There are only certain jobs, in our profession, that are safe during the pandemic. Outpatient physical therapy is not among those types of jobs.
This pandemic will change much in our profession. We are seeing the rapid growth of telehealth. We are seeing more patients agree to in-home PT. We are seeing “mill PT clinics” transition to one-one care because of safety concerns regarding seeing more than 1 patient at a time.
There are many opportunities for PTs that are not afraid of work. There are many challenges for those that haven’t accepted the fact that this profession has to be more than the 9-5.
How will you change your outlook for the career due to the pandemic?
What do you think will happen to our profession in the future because of the pandemic?
Finally, how are you improving your skills to make yourself more recession-proof in the future?