I saw my first DPT this past year. My kids have seen several DPTs over the past several year. Those practioners have never once mentioned they are a DPT, nor asked to be called Dr. I have never met a PT who asked to be addressed by anything other than by their first name. I’ve only noticed they are a DPT by looking at the license hanging on the wall. However, the same cannot be said of many of the PhD’s I’ve met, who have straight up asked to be addressed as “Dr” and stop to correct you if you happen to slip and address them as anything else.
My BIL is a PhD (polymer engineering), my daughter will be a DPT, they both are (or will be) “doctors”. I honestly don’t see how requiring a PT to obtain a degree that is titled DPT detracts or lessons the value of the work of a PhD. They are just different types of “doctors”. If you want to change the nomenclature for DPT, fine, whatever, it doesn’t change the fact that there is a level of training and education beyond the Bachelor or Masters. The average patient doesn’t care what you want to call yourself as long as you have the training necessary to accurately treat their condition. The only time I ever ask a medical professional what their credentials are is for a surgeon, and then only to ask if they are board certified and as a medical malpratice paralegal I know that even that doesn’t mean much. I am pretty confident that I wouldn’t stop to ask an engineer if they are a PhD. And it’s fine with me if some of my kid’s professors are laypeople, masters students and PhDs. They all have some bit of knowledge to impart.
The facts are that most medical professions require extensive training and the nature of the training has changed and developed over the course of time. I certainly hope that it continues to adapt to the needs of the communities they serve.
(I saw my first PA 18 years ago. I loved her. She was better than several MDs I’ve seen. )