Maybe with PAs and NPs but not other professionals @MaterS . The scope of practice of therapists is completely different than an MD. In addition , PAs and NPs have limitations in their practice acts that still require the MD to be the “gatekeeper”. For example, Medicare still requires a physician to sign off on plan of care orders for therapy for reimbursement . With the caveat that she be very confident in her decision to be a PT.
@myloves I tend to recommend direct entry level PT programs because as the educational requirements have increased the competition for entry into programs has become extremely competitive .
@myloves If your daughter is certain about PT, direct entry programs are the way to go, avoiding the very competitive entry to graduate degree process. Total program time is either 6 or 7 years.
Some is degree creep. A DPT doesn’t take much longer to earn than the old Master’s did. Is there enough of an increase in educational content to call the degree a doctorate? The accrediting body thinks so. But I think I’d have a hard time arguing the increase in education or the degree becoming a doctorate is all about the money… Who gets the money? The therapists don’t make more money, and the education is not so much longer that the institutions are collecting years more of tuition. The field, whether the old MS or the new DPT, has always been highly competitive for admission. I remember when I started working, before the DPT became the standard, some excellent good students needing to apply in more than one cycle to get a placement.
I had a PA student deliver my second child. That kid turns 21 soon. There’s been a PA at my family practice office since I started going there (late 80s, early 90s). The profession’s been around a while.
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. )
@myloves A direct entry DPT program generally takes 6 years (there are a small number that take 7) it is essentially 7 though because the student generally has to take classes or do clinicals over the summer terms towards the end of the degree process. The traditional route is 4 years undergrad and 3 years PT graduate program.
Competition to earn a spot in a PT program is intense and some who go the the traditional route need to apply to the graduate portion several cycles to gain admission.
If your student is positive that they are going to stick with PT, I’d recommend the direct entry route. If it is possible they might change their mind go the traditional route. My D16 applied to several direct entry programs and to several traditional undergrad programs, eventually settling on a direct entry DPT program where she earn a Bachelors in Biomedical Science and her DPT in 6 years plus summers. The problem with the traditional undergrad route is what do you do with a degree in health science or kinesology if you don’t get in to a graduate program? I’d think about majoring in something that can stand on its own 2 feet if plans don’t work out. Also, a direct entry program eliminates the need to take the GRE. But know that a direct entey program is more intense in the undergraduate stage. Most require taking the max number of undergraduate hours per term because you are essentially completeing you bachelor is 3 years. My D16 is taking 18 credit hours this semester and will have to continue to take between 16 -18 credits every semester.
Make sure the program is accredited and will keep its accreditation for the course study. Some direct entry programs require shadowing hours. All require maintaining a certain GPA. There are many issues to consider when choosing a program.
A little off topic…but is this new this year? My kid needed a RX from an othropedist to continue PT in a new state in fall 2015…and it had to be written by an ortho in THAT state. This meant seeing a new doctor before continuing PT she had been having for several months. And she HAD that RX from her ortho here to continue.
It would have been a LOT easier to just go directly to the PT!
@thumper1 Each state is different so you’d have to look at the rules for that state. Usually it is dependent on diagnosis , and limited for a short period of time like 30 days . It also depends on insurance sometimes.
Sometimes it is the insurance company that requires the referral from a doc to have another service like PT.
Also, here, LPNs had to go back to school to meet additional requirements to get an RN. Hospitals would not longer hire LPNs, IIRC.
I have been an OT for 20 + years, own my own pediatric practice for ST, OT and PT. We are a clinical training program for PT, ST and OT students for some of the MOST competitive programs in the country. We accept MOT, OTD, OTA, DPT, PTA and ST and CFY students for their pediatric rotations. I can tell you that the scope of knowledge has increased over the years by leaps and bounds. I got a 4 year degree at the time, because there wasn’t a masters program even available in my state. I have had significant training outside my degrees for specialty certifications. The students today come out with more knowledge base and its a GOOD thing. We are given patients/clients (and their parents) at the most vulnerable time of their lives. We have to know anatomy, neurology and development without looking it up in a book or on a computer, in order to treat a variety of disabilities and diagnoses, often going from one to another with no break. Our students that come to learn and do their clinical training at our facility are exhausted and overwhelmed the first few weeks just from the sheer volume of knowledge and diagnoses they encounter in a pediatric clinic. Clinical reasoning is a huge part of training programs, and learning that skill takes years. That’s why research and extra years of learning are needed. Developing a clinical mind takes more than book learning, but you really have to have a very broad base understanding of everything!!! Even though my degree is a BS degree, I’m glad the professions of PT and OT now require at least a masters, and some doctorate! Remember… the MD’s make the diagnosis, but it’s the therapists are the ones who are working for weeks, months and sometimes years to get the client where they need to be!