Musings on career

[ninevirtues]

I'm thinking hard about what I will do, for work, after I graduate.

Most everybody experiences physical therapy as an outpatient, in a clinic. But that's only one of the things that PTs do; many of them work in hospitals, or nursing homes, or skilled nursing facilities... working on people who are very sick, or who have had hips or knees replaced, or who've had a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury, or even kids with birth defects or genetic diseases (like muscular dystrophy).

When our class interviewed, 70% of us said we wanted to work in sports and orthopedic PT. Our professors are trying to introduce us to, and interest us in, other kinds of PT... because they say there are plenty of jobs in inpatient PT, and not so many jobs in outpatient PT. The inference is that we will not end up doing what we said we wanted to do. That possibility gnaws at me. (Inpatient PT involves catheters, diapers, wound care... like a specialized branch of nursing, almost. Personally, I'd rather drink drano than do that for a living. I fundamentally do not like hospitals.)

I'm in school with 22-year-olds. Even the most sports-mad ones may not know what they really wants to do yet. Maybe they're malleable. Me, I know darn well that I want to do sports and orthopedic, and specifically, I know my mission in life: I want to get people moving. TVs and cars are my sworn enemies-- they reduce the amount of time people spend moving.

(Hey, where'd that soapbox come from?)... Obesity is implicated in many health problems, and it drives up the cost of health care in this counry in a big way. Employers pay for that, and spending money on health care means fewer jobs. I know a bunch of people who'd like to have a job right now and can't find one.

Brief digression: McDonald's may have dropped supersize from its menu, but it was mostly a PR move with little effect... read here: http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=10489&sidebar=573&category=eat_right

Right then. I'll drop the soapbox and back away slowly. Anyway, the extra weight a lot of us are packing is a source of misery, confusion, and health problems. I want to help alleviate that: Get people moving when they are not, and keep them moving when they are. I will not be happy without a professional coyote-and-roadrunner relationship with America's remote control.

Hmm... in thinking about it, my sports-and-orthopedic classmates probably want to work with professional sports teams and high level athletes. I do not. I want to work with everyday people who want to lose weight and keep it off. (That's a huge market, but not one that is classically considered physical therapy.) That will require emotional and interpersonal adeptness from me, as well as a solid knowledge of nutrition and exercise.

Armed with that mission, I will not worry that I won't find a job doing what I love. I will either find the right job, or make one for myself.

Comments

[magn0lia.livejournal.com]

Hi Gail, long time no see.

Sounds like you have a strong vision of yourself working this way, even who you'd be helping, and that's a huge step in getting ready for a big change IMO/IME. Will you finish this year? I have been very happy with my own transition from high-tech to massage.

Thanks for the McD's link too; very interesting.

Take care.
(using my face picture to help you figure out who I am)

Hi, Shelley

[ninevirtues.livejournal.com]

(Hi! Shelley, of course I recognize you; you've been using "magnOlia" for a long time. I have to say that the face picture doesn't help, though, since you had short black hair when I worked with you. ;-P)

I did not know you'd been working as a massage therapist; I tried that and personal training, and discovered that I loved it, but really felt (1) that I didn't have enough education to be useful or really good at it and (2) I have zero aptitude for sales. (In a crazy way, getting a professional doctorate is like swatting both of those flies with a twenty-pound mallet; I will definitely have enough education, and that will positively affect my confidence.)

I'm glad to hear that you've changed careers and you're enjoying the result; that's fantastic! (When did that happen and where are you working?)

No, I will not finish until December 2006. I have a loooong time to go.

-gail

PS The muscle of the day, not that I am becoming obsessive about gross anatomy or anything, is the rectus capitis posterior major, an intermediate muscle in the cervical spine (proximal attachment is the lateral part of the inferior nuchal line, distal attachment is the spinous process of the axis, innervation is the suboccipital nerve (C1), function is extension, lateral flexion, and rotation of the head).