Starting a Career in Physiotherapy
By Simone Travis at 12 April, 2008
Want to help others with physical problems? Then working in the physiotherapy field is the way to go. You could learn to evaluate physical problems, create plans for patients, and see to carrying out those plans. A physiotherapy career can be professionally rewarding.
The average physiotherapist is between 25 and 54, earns $50,000 to $60,000, and works in a full-time salaried position. Many of these started out with a BA degree, but the trend is towards hiring MA degree or doctoral degree holders who are beginning a physiotherapy career.
If you are considering a physiotherapy career, the degree you get is important. A physiotherapy aide can get an entry-level degree at a university, community college, or technical school. This is a two-year degree. After graduation, the physiotherapy aide will perform many jobs in the treatment of patients, under the direction of the physiotherapist.
To begin a physiotherapy career as a professional, you need to get either a master’s degree or a doctoral degree. With the master’s degree programs, you may have to enter the program at the same time you start college. At other places, you simply take about three years of school after the bachelor’s degree. Doctoral degrees have similar requirements.
Before you get into a physiotherapy degree program, you’ll need to meet specific requirements. Coursework in various life sciences like biology, anatomy are needed. Also important are courses in fields like psychology and social science.
To choose a school to prepare for a physiotherapy degree, it is wise to consider whether that school offers clinical experiences as part of the training. It is also important to be aware of the degrees that are available to earn, and the length of the course of study.
The final step before getting that first job to start a physiotherapy career is accreditation. The Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) is tasked with ensuring that physiotherapists are fit for the licensing exam. At that point, the licensure exam must be taken and passed. Employers are impressed with high licensure scores. Once the test is complete, you are ready to start your physiotherapy career.
Once the career is started, there will be several things to consider. One is that many states expect you to get routine updates on your education. This can be done through workshops and continuing education courses. You will not be able to keep your license without keeping up on the latest knowledge throughout your physiotherapy career.
Also, you may want to consider a specialty. There are physiotherapy career specialties in geriatrics, pediatrics, orthopedics, neurological disorders, and sports medicine, to name a few. By choosing a specialty, you make yourself more valuable, thus earning yourself a higher salary and often more respect. Besides this, you can choose a field that is the most important to you.
You can begin your physiotherapy career by researching schools and finding which ones have the best programs for you. If you do become a physiotherapy professional, you will find both financial and personal rewards await you.
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