Arthroscopic surgery means allowing a surgeon to repair or remove tissue from a joint with virtually no disruption to other critical parts. The surgery is achieved via insertion of microscopic instruments and camera through the portal of an incredibly small incision site. Sufficed to say, surgeon careers are changing in the new millennium—and most medical professionals, including those in therapist jobs agree those changes are positive and exciting.

Arthroscopic procedures are monitored on a television screen, and to laypeople and healthcare professionals alike, it sounds like the stuff of science fiction. Physical and occupational therapists that work with recovering surgical patients, understand that sci fi or no, arthroscopic operations are stories that generally end well.

Here’s why. Patients benefit from this procedure because they are at a substantially lowered risk for blood loss and infection; as ideal as an arthroscopic procedure can be, there is, however, room for improvement, especially in the area of arthroscopic surgeries on the hip joint.  Mechanical engineers, like Emily Geist are working now, in a collaborative effort with engineers at Carnegie Mellon, to ensure patients like Ellen Bloome, PT continue to receive, should they need one, successful arthroscopic surgeries in the future.

To better understand what warrants further research on arthroscopic surgeries to the hip joint, therapists may be the first to point out what a tricky place in the human body the hip joint resides. Says Geist, “The hip is a lot deeper in the body than the knee or the shoulder, and it’s a lot tighter. The hip has a ball and a socket. It’s a little more difficult to get an instrument in there. There is a navigation challenge often times when you are that deep in the body.”

Luckily, there are mechanical engineers working with surgeons, that can navigate that challenge, as evidenced in a recent article about computer aided arthroscopy becoming the wave of the future—for therapists who love a good career enhancing read, please click here to learn more about some of the inspiration and research behind medical robotics. It’s all fascinating stuff, and, who knows, it could lead to future therapist jobs at a top rehab hospital—check out Colorado Therapist Jobs to further that possibility and earn up to 20% more!

If you’re looking at travel physical therapist jobs or recently landed one, your chief concern is excelling at your new post. There’s no better feeling than being invited to return, receiving an offer to extend the therapist job, or simply making friends you’ll keep in touch with forever.

How can you be “PRFCT” in anticipation of, say, a new physical therapist career? In your best cheerleading voice, “What’s that spell?! “

The ‘P’ is for Professional; the ‘R’ for Reliable; the ‘F’ for Filling-in for a friend or colleague in need; the ‘C’ for Cordiality and, last but not least, the “T” is for Time Conscientiousness—you never, never want to run late.

So, ladies and gentleman of PT and travel occupational therapy jobs world, we give you PRFCT—tion in short order. When you do all of these things right, you can’t go wrong.

• Arrive a couple days ahead of your start date, so you can get a feel for your new environment.
• Make a test drive to work. How long does it take you to leave your new apartment and begin your shift?
• Take a tour of the facility and familiarize yourself with the unit you’ll be working in.
• Remember that your first day sets an overall tone for the rest of the assignment, so make sure it’s a positive “1st Day”!
• Be prepared for anything! Some assignments take a while to get intense, while others hit the ground running.
• Bring at least two pens and a notepad to take plenty of notes on your first day. The more technical savvy can use a new smart phone app called Evernote, reviewed here.
• Be a team player—as clichéd as it sounds, you know what it means and how important it is.
• At the end of each assignment, ask for written references from the colleagues and managers you worked with—it creates positive career momentum for your next job.

Lastly, get on the road to success in your travel therapist career by bookmarking career resources; its links provide, among other things, an opportunity to share pictures of your traveling experiences on all the major social networking sites, find AAA info, Zagat rated restaurants, maps, hotel recommendations, etc. You’ll get psyched to work hard and travel light!

That means learning to take care of your own needs, as well as those of your physical therapy patients.  (For a review of the five fundamentals of heart health, see our primer on heart awareness.)

It also means reaching out in your traveling physical therapy jobs and finding like-minded health-care professionals to collaborate with on heart awareness.

One collaboration regarding heart awareness even led to a new ballet, titled “Heart (Function vs. Emotion).”  This production of the Bodiography  contemporary ballet company in Pittsburgh debuted on Feb. 19, and featured six performers who happen to be heart patients!

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the heart-centric ballet was inspired by a conversation between Bodiography artistic director and choreographer Maria Caruso, and Dennis McNamara, professor of medicine and medical director of heart failure/cardiac transplantation at UPMC.

The collective experiences of the patients, the doctors, and the dancers in the troupe led to a ballet that many described as life-changing. “We’re all in this experience together in bringing about awareness,” Caruso said.

What a lovely and magical way to commemorate American Heart Month!

Kids play hard. Exercise mixed with outdoor activity is a wonderful thing, but sports related injuries do occur, and with current admissions to U.S. emergency rooms hovering at 135,000 per year, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is taking notice. In fact, the CDC just launched a sports injury page on their website, where medical staff, i.e. physical and occupational therapists, as well as coaches, teammates and patients can find printable palm cards and other resources that outline the symptoms of a probable Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Dealing with the repercussions (of a concussion) can often be what a rehab team is all about. Rehabilitation therapy job professionals get the patient back on track by ensuring the skills necessary to perform ADLs (activities of daily living) are relearned.

If you thrive in PT and OT jobs, you work tirelessly to improve every aspect of your patient’s physical function.

You work toward an ultimate goal of increasing the patient’s physical endurance and, because every patient is an individual and as such, unique, your treatment plans are perfectly structured to meet specific injuries and needs.
But before treatment can begin, there has to be a diagnosis, and the CDC is only enforcing what you probably already know.

What signs can you observe in a patient who may have only just sustained a TBI injury? The following is a short list of symptoms:

• Appears dazed or stunned
• Is confused over a simple task
• Forgets sports plays
• Is unsure of game, score, opponent
• Moves clumsily
• Answers questions slowly
• Loses consciousness (even briefly)
• Shows behavior or personality changes
• Can’t recall events PRIOR to hit or fall (retrograde amnesia)
• Can’t recall events AFTER hit or fall (anterograde amnesia)

The next list is what the patient might describe in the event of his or her TBI injury:

• Headache or “pressure” in head
• Nausea
• Balance problems or dizziness
• Double or fuzzy vision
• Sensitivity to light and/or noise
• Feeling sluggish or slowed down
• Feeling foggy or groggy
• Does not “feel right”

No matter where you practice rehabilitation therapy, you are a critical part in patient recovery; that being said, we would still like to leave you with a bookmark worthy website. US News & World Report has a current listing of the best rehab hospitals in the nation. Which jobs at Travel Force put you in the top 3? Check out Seattle therapist jobs and see if you can get close to the healing action at the University of Washington Medical Center—but keep this obvious and happy truth in mind: you can make a difference anywhere.

As we’ve reported, the need for PTs is on the rise, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Demand is strong; new grads are encouraged to apply today to Travel Force and start reaping the rewards and benefits of travel therapy jobs!

But, it’s up to you to present yourself as the strongest candidate possible for those physical therapist jobs.  That means having a resume that includes all of your skills and experience learned in school and during internships and the like.

In addition,  it also means creating a cover letter that sings your praises – loudly. This document needs to be a persuasive marketing tool that highlights your strongest points and reiterates why the employer should consider you for that physical therapist job.

Here are some tips on writing a great cover letter for a physical therapy job:

• Highlight key professional skills developed throughout your career (school and otherwise). Did you develop some sort of “specialty” while in school — a skill you were known to be particularly good at? Mention it!
• Emphasize your knowledge of pertinent technologies; the more cutting-edge, the better.
• Cite evidence of leadership abilities. For instance, if you led a research team, discuss how you motivated your team to accomplish the project
• Discuss your academic achievements as proof of your intelligence and competence.
• Relate your skills, experience, and interests to the employer’s needs. (Do some research on the company or facility: Go online, or ask your Travel Force Consultant for tips and insights.)

For more guidelines, see the APTA’s Guide to the Cover Letter.

And, once you’ve gotten that all-important physical therapist job interview, prepare by reviewing our Interview tips for travel therapists.

In traveling physical therapy jobs, you can expect to work in one or more locations (of your choosing) per year, and see a six-figure ceiling in earning potential, a nice return on your investment after graduating with a master’s or doctoral degree from a PT educational program. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) lists accredited schools in every state in the U.S. –just click here to check them out—you’ll also find links to APTA, and other benchmarks in physical therapy, on our therapist career resources page.

As for recent PT grads, you’re eager to practice your affinity for therapeutic procedures and examination techniques! Your next step is licensure within the state you wish to practice. The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (see the FSBPT website) has all the information you need on registering for state licensing exams and learning more about mandatory continuing education; every PT should book mark FSBPT for its state-by-state licensing authorities.

Almost every job posting for a PT position requires, in addition to state licensure, a completion card from a 4 ½ hour Basic Cardiac Life Support (BLCS) course. PTs are expected to recognize life-threatening emergencies and respond with the right maneuver, i.e., CPR, Heimlich or through use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

Physical Therapy Assistants (PTAs) can get a high octane career off to a great start by getting involved in the Recognition Program, which honors advanced proficiency in a specified area of work – such as, Musculoskeletal, Neuromuscular, Geriatric, Pediatric, Cardiovascular/Pulmonary, and/or Integumentary. You’ll need to create a user name and password on the APTA website if you’re interested in downloading an online application.

Best wishes in your continuing education!

Just recently, major medical textbook publishers — including Random House, McGraw-Hill, Perseus, Wiley and Kaplan — struck a deal with app developer ScrollMotion to adapt their products for the iPad electronic page.

Rik Kranenburg, an executive with McGraw-Hill Co., was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as declaring:

“People have been talking about the impact of technology on education for 25 years. It feels like it is really going to happen in 2010.”

Publishers have certainly embraced the idea in theory, because electronic versions of their medical textbooks save them time and money in production, printing and storage, as well as enabling them to update the books virtually, rather than having to publish new print editions.

However, in practice, publishers have tended to produce online versions of medical journals, product manuals, study guides and the like, rather than actual health textbooks –  partly because the technology has not been available that makes e-books attractive to students.  (Though their unique features — such as instant access to particular references; and brighter, more lifelike graphics — can make electronic books quite useful, these products have not been as interactive as needed for students in physical therapy programs and elsewhere.)

But the recent release of the highly-anticipated Apple iPad is a game-changer.  ScrollMotion’s development deal with publishers includes iPad applications to let users, such as occupational therapy students play videos, highlight text, record lectures, take printed notes, search the text, and participate in interactive quizzes.

As of now, the iPad seems to be lacking many such features. For instance, there’s no capability to let users play Flash-based videos downloaded from the Web; there’s no camera for video-conferences or virtual study groups; and there’s no handwriting recognition for taking notes. Also, the current iPad does not allow for multitasking.

Here is a video with more details on the iPad’s shortcomings

Are you a therapy program student? What do you think of the Apple iPad?

Stay tuned!

This well-known event makes you think of beads, King Cake, parades snaking their way through the Big Easy, and, most recently, a winning Super Bowl team—but a couple hundred miles west of the New Orleans Saints, lies Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas, hosting big carnival fun of their own.  Check out what Mardi Gras! Glaveston! has to offer; it’s a beachfront carnival in its 99th year and parties on for 12 consecutive concert n’ cuisine filled days, from February 5th through February 16th. Why not treat yourself to a belated Valentine’s Day present?

At Mardi Gras Southeast Texas, Inc. in Port Authur, TX, you’ll find the same kind of fun from February 6 through the 11th.

If you’re really keen on the Lone Star State, we have Texas therapy jobs right now.

But what if you’re a PT in a different part of the country, and looking to catch a few beads? California Travel Therapy jobs are nearby Mardi Gras action, most notably in San Diego’s Gas Lamp Quarter; there, “Fat Tuesday” is the featured event, with masks, costumes, food and Cajun cookin’ galore. Click here to check out dates for Gas Lamp Mardi Gras fun that lasts until mid April.

But don’t give up on Mardi Gras celebrations elsewhere in the U.S. because North Carolina Therapists jobs are close to the action too, with the Asheville Mardi Gras, which has a “Wild at Heart” theme this year—scheduled for Valentine’s Day. The fun begins at 1pm and lasts into the wee hours.

No matter where you go, we’re sure, as the Mardi Gras aficionados say, it’ll be a party that’s second to none.

• Job Type: Travel
• Location:  McAllen, TX
• Shift: Day - Days: 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
• Assignment length: 13 weeks

Call 800-617-0608 or Apply Online Now

Physical Therapist Job in Kansas

• Job Type: Travel
• Location: Wichita, KS
• Shift: Day - Days: 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
• Assignment length: 13 weeks

Call 800-617-0608 or Apply Online Now

Get more information on therapy jobs in the Southeast area

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