Still torn between PT and PA? Go talk to someone who actually does the other job.

Matt is a traveling physical therapist, and I brought him on because so many of you are weighing a couple of healthcare paths at the same time. He breaks down what PT school asked of him, what his work really looks like, and why he chose travel assignments.

What we talk about:

• How Matt landed on physical therapy
• PT school requirements compared to PA school requirements
• What a physical therapist actually does all day
• How traveling positions work
• The upsides and the tradeoffs of travel healthcare
• Getting real exposure to a career before you commit to it

Resources:

Free application timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

One-on-one pre-PA counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey, guys.

So today we're shifting directions a little bit.

Not that I'm trying to convince you to do anything else, but I want this podcast to be a place where you can learn just about all healthcare professions.

And if you're trying to make the really tough decision of what you're gonna do for the rest of your life, I think it's important that you know what goes into different careers.

So if you think back to past episodes that we've done, and if you've missed those, in, let's see, episode seven, I did an interview with Dr. Ryan Gray, who is a medical doctor and MD, and we kind of did a PA versus MD episode, and it was really great, really informative.

And then episode 13, I did the same thing with a nurse practitioner, Monica, and it was great.

I learned a ton during that one.

I knew more about the med school stuff just because my husband's done it, but np I was clueless, so I learned a ton during that one.

And so today I am talking to a physical therapist.

It's actually one of my.

I would say childhood, more like high school friends.

Matt and Matt and I went to high school together.

He actually grew up with my husband.

I don't even know how little they were when they knew each other, but I'm really lucky to have a great group of high school friends that were all still very close, even though we're kind of scattered out a little bit more now.

But Matt is one of those people.

So Matt ended up going to physical therapy school, and he now works as a traveling PT, which is interesting.

And there are traveling PAs that are in similar positions, and we talk about that some.

So if you're interested in ever being a traveling pa, you'll.

You'll want to listen to that part because there are some perks.

I mean, definitely, if that's something that you can do or interested in doing, it's a great option to travel, and the pay is good and all those things.

So we talk about that, and we just compare kind of what the process looks like for PT versus pa, getting into school.

Once you're in school, what's it look like and just go from there.

So it was really fun to talk to Matt, even though he is all the way out in Washington right now.

And so I hope you get a lot out of this episode.

And we'll jump in to the interview in just a second.

I spoke about it last week, but I just want to remind y' all that it is time to start thinking about your applications.

If you are applying to PA school or you think you might be, even if you're applying to PT school, you've got to start thinking about your applications and getting all that stuff, stuff together, all of your information and definitely start thinking about your personal statement.

MyPA resource is a sponsor of this podcast, which I'm so grateful for, and it's a great website just in general for resources and information as far as getting your personal statement done.

What needs to go in it, what doesn't need to go in it?

They have a free workshop you can do.

So it's a video workshop.

It's a about 30 minutes of videos.

Totally worth your time.

If you're gonna use their editing services, please do the workshop because it makes my job easier when you know what should be in it.

But I do edit for them and those statements are gonna be rolling in soon because you need to have that ready to push submit when CASPA opens.

So if you have any questions about that, please just contact me and you can use the Code Prepa Club for for a discount.

If you do decide to use their paid editing services, they only use PAs, so it's not going to be somebody random who knows nothing editing your statement.

But anyway, let's get to our interview with Matt and yeah, I hope you enjoy it.

Hey guys, Today I'm really excited to be talking to a good friend of mine who I've actually known since high school, Matt Coleman.

And I'm going to let him introduce himself and tell you a little bit about his background.

Yeah.

All right.

Awesome.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Savannah.

So, yeah, I've known Savannah for a while and I am a t. I graduated from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences way down in St. Augustine, Florida in April of this year.

Passed my boards just two weeks after that, and I've been practicing as a traveling PT ever since school.

And it's.

The rest is history, I guess.

Well, listeners may be wondering, why am I having a physical therapist on the podcast?

This is a PA podcast, but I think a lot of people who just go into the medical field in general kind of look at every career.

And I know that I looked at PT a little bit.

I spent some time shadowing and kind of in that field just to see if it was something for me.

I've never really been an athletic or sporty person, so I can't say that's what drew me to it.

But I just wanted to see what it was about.

And so I think it's important to have exposure to all these different careers and kind of find out what it actually looks like on a daily basis and the paths to get there so that everyone can make informed decisions.

So did you always know that you were going to end up being a PT or did you kind of look at other professions at any point?

No, you know, I really didn't know I was going to get into PT when I was growing up.

I guess I was kind of steered towards like sciencey kind of stuff.

Like I was either it's kind of split between engineering and medicine.

And growing up, you know, I was still interested in those subjects in school.

So I took, you know, AP biology, all the, all the sciencey courses I could.

And it wasn't until senior year of high school I took this clinical sciences or clinical science class.

It helped me to get my foot in the door of skilled nursing.

A large hospital let me really see, I guess the inner workings of, of those settings, you know, which clinicians did what, how those clinicians interacted with each other, you know, what their scopes of practice were.

It was a really great like experience.

It really let me see like just everything you could medical field.

And so I did that class for a while, I guess until I graduated.

But that class actually led to a job as a transporter.

And so I got to keep, and really lowering the career that I wanted to do.

And you know, when I first started, and I think when a lot of people start too, they kind of start with wanting to be a physician.

And then I, you know, with shadow physicians throughout the hospital, usually ones that I would interact with on a daily basis.

And you know, there, there's certainly pros and cons to being a, a physician and you know, after, you know, seeing how some physicians work and just a lot of the, a lot of the, what I say, just the daily things that they have to put up with.

I guess I just, I really figured it wasn't for me, kept exploring rules and I think the two things I came down to between pharmacy and pt, they, you know, both of them really involve a lot around and a lot of nowadays like a lot more responsibilities.

Both or both professions have, you know, doctorate degrees and a lot More is expected out of you, so it's just a lot more on your plate to handle.

Yeah.

I was split between those two for a while and think when I shadowed pharmacy in the hospital, it was certainly.

It was very engaging.

Really didn't.

I thought like a pharmacist was just, you know, someone you go to to get your prescription drugstore.

But now it's.

It's so much more involved in the hospital.

It's great.

Like, their knowledge of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics is amazing.

But after that, I got to shadow pt and I think the thing that really stuck with me with PT was being able to really make a difference in people's lives with early mobilization.

I would do that a lot as a transfer border, you know, having people like move around for the first time and really like people take for granted every day, you know, being able to walk, being able to stand.

Yeah.

And you know, following like a medical episode or some sort of trauma.

A lot of those, like, functional abilities are really limited.

So helping to restore that.

That motion or that abilities, it really just.

It makes a.

Makes a difference.

It really is fine that you're able to help people do that.

It's.

That's what I stuck with.

I, you know, was able to experience that initially in like, acute care in the hospital.

And then I expanded out from there.

I think started in acute.

Oh, wounds and burns, I think was big thing.

Moved into aquatic, moved into shadowing pediatrics after that, which I really knew.

I would never be a pediatric therapist because that was.

That's just not for me.

You got to be a special person to work in that.

That's just.

It's not me.

But there's certainly what was next, sports medicine and so on and so forth.

And I just, I really enjoyed the.

The meaningful, you know, in these people's lives to help them get back to maybe the way they used to be or maybe help enhance their mobility further where they need to be.

It's pretty great.

I enjoyed it.

So one thing you mentioned, I think is interesting is that PT programs are actually doctorate programs, whereas PA programs are master's programs.

So tell me a little bit about what your process was of getting into PT school.

Like what was required and then what that schooling kind of looked like.

Yeah.

So getting into school, the other graduate, I want to say, like allied health kind of know, most.

Most universities will have some sort of allied health program where it's like ot, pt, maybe speech pathology, other other degrees of that.

I guess, like level is maybe One way to put it, but.

So, so usually you apply to like the College of Allied Health Sciences or maybe, who knows, just has a PT program of its own.

It's not like affiliated whatever, but the admission processes are pretty.

Those professions.

And I think for PAs, you guys use a centralized, like, application service.

Is that right?

Most schools do.

The school that I went to actually didn't, but most schools do, and we're in Allied health too, most times as well.

Okay.

Okay, gotcha.

Because that's how it is for PT school as well.

We use ptcas, which, like you said, I think most schools use that.

I think like, maybe like 90% use it.

And it's, it's pretty easy just because, you know, you send in your transcripts, your GRE log, your shadowing state, all your extracurriculars, and then usually have you fill out like a, or rather an admissions essay from like a prompt.

And the prompt, I think, changes every year.

Like, let me think, I think mine.

It was like, what, what character traits, what three character traits do you most expect a, a clinician or a PT to have to best treat patients?

Something like that.

Barely.

I remember it's like three or so years ago, but it's something along the lines of that.

And you know, other, other schools will have particular requirements, so.

So yeah, like Emory, for example, has you fill out.

I think it was like three or four separate, you know, very brief essays.

I think just further like expanding upon your character and just talking about some, some issues that, that pop up, you know, in the.

From time to time, just to get your opinion of things.

And a lot of schools will do very similar things like that maybe, you know, an extra essay or two, or maybe ask you about why you, why you chose to be a PT or what, what's got you interested in it, things of that nature.

So usually PTCAs fill all that out, get it sent in, and then you'll usually have to check with each school.

It's not a bad idea to email their admissions to make sure that there aren't any extra application necessities like the essay or maybe some extra documents, things of that nature.

Okay, question are for PT school, do you have to interview?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I, I want to say that most schools do.

And a personal interview, like, for example, when I went to my first one, I, I think there are about maybe 30 of us.

And like interview day is kind of like you, you go in there and we'll talk to you about the program, why they want you to, to.

To do it, and then I Want to say there was like maybe like 30 of us and then they split the big group up, tours of the facility, what all, you know, we would be expected to know and keep up with and you know, what all they've got to offer.

And then you would go into.

And I think it's different for every program.

You'll go into like a group interview with like two to three people or you'll have like a one on one interview, which is kind of scary, especially with if it's with like a current like PT student.

That's how mine was at the school I got into.

Yeah.

So it was like, I think it was the, of like the neuro faculty and then a, I think a third year student and then me and they're just you know, asking like the typical, like, you know, why'd you want to be a pt?

Just questions of that nature, just trying to get to know you really.

And because I think the biggest thing about the in person interview is you can look great on paper, which is, you know, important.

You need to have good grades, you know, good GRE score, all that stuff.

But they want to also make sure you're going to be like, you know, who's able to take all this information you're going to learn in school and be able to as an art, as a clinician with patients because you as a PT or you know, other member of the rehab staff, you're probably going to be that clinician who sees that patient.

For example, I'll spend like anywhere from like 30 minutes to like 2 hours with a patient.

So you, you learn a lot from that patient and you're expected to answer a lot of questions.

Yeah.

So you really got to be able to, to interact with those patients and you know, be able to keep your cool, I guess.

Yeah.

So.

Okay, so you worked a little bit.

Didn't you work as a PT aide for a while?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So after I left my job of the, of being a transporter at that hospital I was telling you about, I talked to one of the, I think it was my, I want to say my undergrad advisor about like how to get volunteer hours for, for PT school.

Excuse me.

And she, she was mentioning about going to the big university like research hospital down the road or trying to get a job and they actually had a posting for BT Tech, like when we, or when I went to go talk to her.

So that, that worked out pretty nice.

I, I got the contact information and applied and I think within like a week I got a call for an interview and then just went from there.

And you didn't have any certification or anything.

You just.

They trained you on the job.

Yeah, it was all on the job training.

Okay.

And yeah, it was pretty great.

I got to see a lot of like outpatient care and like let's say just, just regular orthopedic.

And it was a really great experience.

Not only is like, you know, a young student trying to learn like what the heck PT is, but also just my character as like an employee, I guess.

And because I think it was me or I should say it's, it was the pt, myself and then a pta.

So there were, yeah, four of us and we were running like a small clinic.

And so I mean that was like, that was a big, big task of running a small clinic with a, with a pretty patient caseload.

So.

And that's, that's important too because, you know, that's something you can put on, on your, like understand like how like the, the small clinic process works, like how, how patients, you know, for treated and like intake outtake of patients, stuff like that.

Good to have experience wise.

Okay, cool.

Well, I mean, it sounds like the process for going to PT school is very similar to going to PA school.

A lot of people actually for PA school have to have experience and a lot of people get that as a PT aid.

So I just think that's interesting that that's kind of what you did too.

Yeah.

And that's usually.

Huh.

Sorry.

No, go ahead.

Interrupting there.

No, you have more insight into.

Yeah, and that's, that's usually what people do.

They'll try to get like a PTD aid job and that's, that's a great way to build like repertoire with the PT that you work under because I'd say 90% of the time they're going to be the one who's going to write you that good referral letter for PT school to mention as part of the application process.

Usually like with per school, they'll want, I'd say anywhere from like one to three recommendation letters.

And you know, if you can get a solid letter from a pt, really, really hitting home, like your strengths as a potential clinician, that's, that's really going to look good on your application process.

So, so building that repertoire is like PT8 or even like a setting like a CNA working in a SNF, for example.

That's another good way to work with some of the higher ups to get that really good recommendation letter.

Yeah, it's really important.

Definitely important.

Do you feel like for somebody to be interested in physical therapy or to go the PT route, they have to have a background in athletics or sports or is that not really necessary?

You know, it's.

I'd say it's definitely the stereotype.

Yeah.

And I grew up as a very active individual.

I played school sports.

I was running around, hurt all the time, which ironically, I never, I never had pt.

You know, I beat the heck out of myself, but I never hurt myself.

Bad enough to need pt, but, you know, sparking my interest into getting into PT school and even my background with an undergrad in biology, I never really had like, stereotype of wanting or having that athletic sort of interest in pt.

I. I like sports med.

When I was, you know, a student, a PT student because I saw a lot of direct access patients that way.

But I think that was kind of the only thing that I enjoyed.

Honestly, the.

My favorite caseload or favorite type of thing in PT is, is actually like narrow and acute stuff of that nature.

Yeah.

I want to actually ask you about that because I know you and I have talked about it and I never really knew that was a part of the PT world.

I mean, I, I think of the stereotypical like, oh, you sprained your ankle, go get some PT to make it better and make it stronger.

And yeah, tell me about some of the different fields, like the neuro field that PTs can go into.

Yeah, so there's, There's a lot.

You know, I've already mentioned acute neuro peds, I think I already mentioned aquatics.

Outpatient, I think is usually people think of as like the stereotypical orthopedic.

You know, like you said, sprain your ankle, go to PT for this amount of time.

Cardiac is like a really cool one too.

It's.

I'd say it's up there with neuro is one of my favorites.

Usually something, you know, post cardiac, like post MI or, you know, cabbage or something like that.

You're really helping to return people to their.

And, and that, that's a, that's just a very intense one just because, you know, if you mess up your patience, well being.

But.

But anyway, so, yeah, that was cardiac home health.

I particularly work in a snf, which is a skilled nursing facility from hospital care.

But I'll, I'll expand a little bit more on that later on.

Another setting that people are usually surprised about pts working in is like wound care.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's.

That's something that you really got to have the, the stomach for, I guess.

Yeah.

I always thought I'd Be good at it because I, I can never smell anything.

Okay.

So like, you know, wounds are just, just whatever to me.

And working in burns as a transporter, I just, I'm pretty deconditioned to some of the gnarliest stuff out there.

Yeah.

And then sports medicine and I think that's all I can think of right now.

But I know there's, there's other things that, you know, PTs get into and some of them aren't even necessarily treating.

A lot of PTs will become directors of rehab or become consultants on how to run like small clinics, things of that nature.

So, you know, you can, if that's something that interests you as a pt, say you want to practice for so many years or you want to practice only so much throughout the day and then go into more like a management type role or consultant type role that options open.

Open as well.

So quite a variety of settings you can be in.

It's pretty, pretty crazy.

Yeah.

That's really interesting.

So I want to talk a little bit about your job now that you're graduated and working and you are a travel PT.

So there are definitely travel PAs out there as well.

And I think the process looks pretty similar.

But what made you want to go into travel right after graduation?

Well, I, I didn't really even know travel PT existed until one of my professional professors mentioned it.

I think that was probably somewhere along the line.

During my second year of school I heard a little bit about it and it wasn't until I went to our, our sections meeting which is about they all come together and present all lot of their research and stuff like that.

So they also have a lot of networking and job fair kind of stuff there.

So I went to.

That was great.

It was fun.

But I was able to meet with a lot of recruiters who work for various travel agencies and they were able to answer a lot of my questions and expand quite a bit on the nature of being a traveling clinician.

And I think after that, that was what really sold me on being a travel PT after graduating.

Like a traveling clinician.

There's a couple of pros and cons that you have.

Yeah, tell me that.

I think the biggest pro is that you're really in control of your whole travel journey.

You get to choose what contract you want or which contract you don't want, which state, which city you want to go to next, how long in between those contracts.

Like for example, I was in Virginia for my last one.

So after graduating I went right to Virginia about 3 ish months.

And then took like 2 and a half weeks off to just do whatever I want.

Nice.

And then, you know, a company paid for me to drive all the way out here to Washington and start working again.

I think after, after this contract and contracts are usually travel contracts, at least for PTs, usually about 13 weeks, so about three months.

Another two and a half weeks off to go out to Canada and ski.

So you really do get like a lot of flexibility and control of your, your work schedule.

So it's, it's pretty great.

And usually I think I get 24 days off in between assignments for like insurance purposes.

But usually it's like 20 to, you know, that's enough to, you know, travel and go see different parts of the world.

Backpack Europe.

It's almost a month.

Really.

Yeah.

The other big thing is, well, you know, know they don't ever say like, you know, people say don't go into like the medical field for money, but you get to see your student loan payments.

Gotta make a living.

Yeah, that's, that's certainly the, the second biggest thing.

And I'll say as a traveling clinician, I think I make about K more than like a starting pt.

How much?

I think like 30 to 40k more.

Wow.

Significant.

Quite a. Yeah, it's, it's quite a bit.

So do you think a lot of.

That because they pay for stuff?

Yeah, a lot of it's because the company.

These are so generous with, with paying for things.

The other thing is you get a lot of tax free stipends and incentives which is the other major perk, just the, the tax laws of being a traveling clinician.

You just get all lot of this, a lot of these stipends that just aren't taxed and you get to pocket all that great way.

Why do places need travel pas.

Are you filling in for someone or is it like a job audition?

Yeah, it's quite a bit of reasons.

Sometimes it's because like the place I'm at right now, for example, the skilled nursing facility, they just need that extra help because of just the increase in their census these next couple of months.

I don't know what it is about this time of year, but they just need extra help.

Other times it'll be like, like I know at my last job I was covering for a clinician who just went on maternity leave, so she was out for three months.

I think those are things I can think of sometimes, you know, someone may leave the job and then they're just having trouble finding some like a permanent clinic clinician to fill that post.

I know at one of the last places I was at, they definitely asked me to if I, if I wanted like a permanent position there.

Yeah, they just, I guess they really liked me.

So they're like, yeah, we, you know, we really want you to stay.

And it's like, nope, nope.

Gotta travel.

Travel.

How long do you think you'll work as a traveling pt?

Is that something you'll do forever or do you think there will be an end to that?

Yeah, probably once I settle down with my girlfriend.

But I don't know.

I think, I think it'd be really good for both of us to travel.

She's a traveling PT as well.

I'd say maybe another two years max.

Okay.

And I think that's, that's kind of like what, what most PTs or traveling PTs will do.

They'll early on and then they'll kind of settle down and then, you know, or they'll just start traveling again.

It's, it's, it's like I said, it's a pretty flexible type of job.

So you just kind of, you just kind of go wherever you want.

Yeah.

As long as you have a license.

That's the thing too is, you know, bouncing from state to state.

I don't know about PAs, but I know like a compact license where if you get licensed in one state, you can, you can bounce from state to state.

PT is working on that.

So unfortunately we have to go through the slow process of going from, you know, like Virginia, for example, took me.

Virginia was really quick.

It like took me like two to three weeks to get my license there.

Washington took like, I think like seven weeks.

Wow.

It's kind of slow.

So do you start that before you know you're going there?

Yeah.

Okay.

So like, for example, I'm planning on heading back to Georgia, which is also another long state licensure state.

So that'll probably start that in January.

Interesting.

So you talked about the good stuff about your job.

Is there anything that you feel like is a difficult disadvantage or anything you dislike about being a travel pa?

Pt?

Sorry, I'm a pa. Yeah, I think,.

I think the thing most people have to get just to is traveling every 13 weeks.

Sometimes you get contract extensions, which, I mean, it's fine, but sometimes it can be a hassle with having to coordinate and new contracts every so often.

And then if you want to go to a different state, having to apply for another license.

So it's just at times, but you know, your, your travel companies will.

And finding a place to live, well,.

That's One of my questions too is do they, do they set up your housing or is that on your own?

Yeah, they, I mean, they, they have it if you need it.

I've actually set up my own housing using like, Airbnb and Craigslist.

I'm kind of exploring some of the, excuse me.

Some of the newer apps.

Rumi, I think, is the new one I'm going to try for when I go over towards Seattle.

There's a bunch of different options.

And the great thing about these apps now is they have background checks and ways to keep you safe.

Pretty, pretty confident, pretty comfortable using them.

I think that's the biggest thing is just uprooting every so often, every three months on, on the, on the road and whatnot.

But the good thing is, is, you know, pay for travel and relocation and stuff.

So that's usually a plus.

The other, I guess the other thing too is like, right now I'm in the Cascades, which is like, it's not Seattle proper.

And, and finding jobs in places, I guess, that people would consider, like, desirable.

Like for example, when I was over in Virginia in a valley, in a college town, but it was like in a, in a valley kind of, I wouldn't say out in the middle of nowhere, but it was, it was certainly pretty, pretty isolated.

So finding a place where you, you really want to go, like, like, say, for example, if you really want to go to, to D.C. or New York City or just somewhere where it's just very urban, be kind of troublesome sometimes because those, those contracts aren't always available.

Have to work 30 minutes to an hour outside of the city.

And some people want, but it's just not always an option with pt.

I mean, I actually really enjoy the rural setting, like the small town kind of feel.

So it's because, you know, I like a lot of outdoor stuff, so it's, it's right up my alley, but it's not for everyone.

Interesting.

What, what does like a normal day for you look like as a pt?

Like, what are your responsibilities?

How do you interact with other members of the healthcare team, like physicians and PAs?

Oh, I think my day in the SNF, I usually roll into the office starting around like 8 in the morning.

And you know, I just kind of roll in and start with some charting, get some paperwork, kind of figure out what patients need, like, priority for the day.

Like, do they need to go to appointment with their physician?

Have they got dialysis?

They, you know, things of that nature.

So try to prioritize that and then figure out you know, urge do patients have progress notes to do?

Just basically getting organized for maybe like that first hour.

And then usually if we have like a new admit people to go see them because I need to figure out how they move around while they're with us.

And so I'll go in there and sometimes it'll be me alone, sometimes it'll be me and the doctor.

Sometimes it'll be me and the, the PA or the NP or just these members of the, the admission scheme.

And we'll just, you know, kind of run through the new patients kind of figuring out what their goals are with, with being in the snf, you know, are they more of a, their medical comorbidities?

Are they there like for therapy?

It just, just depends on the patient.

So usually I'll try to see those patients first and again try to because they'll be with us days up to, you know, weeks, months.

Just depends on what's going on with them.

And then I'd say after I've seen the new patients for the day, I'll go spend some time treating which like treating the patients, that, all that stuff.

I'll spend maybe four to six hours doing that.

And that's, that's most of my day right there is, is just treating and you know, everyone's treatment's gonna be a little bit different.

Some patients gonna be treating them in the room, working on that early mobilization like just standing up or being able to move around for the first time.

Other times it'll be working in the therapy gym, which, which is very fortunate.

Like for me, Art, ours is very large places.

It's like a closet or like it's super small.

So trying to get a bunch of patients in there to use all the equipment's a little bit challenging at times, but I'm very, very grateful.

Ours is nice and spacious, but yeah, so treating's majority of my day and then after that's done, you know, there's lunch somewhere in between that and then during that four or six hour Spanish by like a patient care meeting or a Medicare meeting.

The patient care meeting is where I'll go chat with a patient and usually like family or whoever they're probably going to be like discharged with and kind of discuss how the patient's doing with therapy, what their, you know, is the, is the end goal still the same?

Do they, do they want to go home?

Do they want to go to a different type of like assisted living or you know, things of that nature, trying to just figure out what their game plan is?

For the future.

And then I'll go to these other things called Medicare meetings, which is where I'll go chat with other clinicians and the snf, and we'll all just, you know, kind of dump all the information we have on these patients and try to get.

Just to get all, like, on the same page, like, know what's going on with this patient, you know, how's the rehab going?

Just, it's just like a clinician huddle.

Not necessarily rounds, but it's.

It's just something that'll usually pop up.

Well, that's cool that y' all get to all work together, though, and kind of.

Yeah, yeah, it's great.

And it's.

It's good to have those meetings, too, just to be all on the same page, because there's one thing I've learned in the healthcare field, like, as a pt, is you just get pulled all sorts of different directions, like people asking you all these questions, and it's.

It's just hard to task.

So it's.

It.

Those meetings definitely help with my clarity.

Yeah.

And treating patients.

Interesting.

Okay, so what advice would you.

Would you give somebody who is trying to decide whether they want to go the PT route or maybe the PA or MD route.

Advice?

I think.

I think the biggest thing is to really get your foot in the door.

Kind of like I did is, you know, as high school, but I mean, certainly get your foot in the door and shadow or work in that setting.

I think working in that setting is going to be even better, just because you're going to be a part of that team and you're going to learn the demands from whatever level you're at, usually the mid levels and the upper levels, too.

Just how everyone works together to make the patient outcomes.

And so get your foot in the door, I think is.

Is one thing.

And then what else?

I think, you know, just.

Just get your foot in the door.

And then maybe I'd say research, you know, like.

Like the, the demand or like, I think the length of school, of.

Of each.

Each program.

How long was your program?

Three years.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like mine, for example, was actually two and a half years.

Okay.

My school, like, but now it.

Now it rolled back to three years.

Gotcha.

Just because, like, the accrediting bodies go through each school every so often and say, hey, I think you need to make this, you know, longer, or maybe this needs to be shorter.

Like Baylor, for example, example in Texas, I think has.

I think it's two years.

Wow.

Now.

Yeah, it's like an accelerated Program.

Program.

But it's.

It's.

It's tough, from what I've heard, because you think about it, you're cramming an extra year of school, like, you know, two years.

So it's.

It gets kind of challenging.

And that's how mine was too.

Like, I actually liked.

That was one of the reasons I. I chose the school I went to was because it was a little bit shorter.

And.

Yeah, it's.

It's.

You're certainly going to get a lot more information in less time.

But, I mean, you know, great.

I think everyone that took their boards the first time passed, so.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

That's the other thing.

Good.

Okay.

You know, getting your foot in the door and then just kind of researching about, you know, the demands of each job and the schooling process.

I think that's the two biggest.

Research and shadowing.

Make sure you want to do it.

Yeah.

Before you commit.

Yeah.

Because it.

Because otherwise, I feel like it's gonna drive you crazy now.

Like, I really enjoy, like, what I do.

Like, I. I'm excited to go to work every day.

Some days more so than others or not as much.

I'm still, like, glad to, like, work in the setting and just, like, do the things I do.

Imagine myself, like, doing any other job.

So, like, finding out that, you know, the.

The healthcare field in general or like, medicine in general is.

Is your thing.

I think that's a big thing, too, because if you.

If you try to, you know, commit to it and it's just not what you're passionate about, I just.

I think you're just gonna make yourself.

Miserable, you know, it's not gonna work out.

And that's.

Yeah, like.

Like, for example, I. I really.

I can never be a businessman or a salesman.

Like, I feel like I.

Science and medicine is something I've just always been drawn to.

And I don't know if that's just, like, my personality or what, but I feel like I'm passionate about, like, how I.

And, you know, my patients, like, they really enjoy my care.

As a clinician.

Yeah.

I'm just.

I don't know what else I could.

Could do as a profession aside from this.

That's awesome.

Well, thank you for talking to me.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Do you want to.

This is up to you.

Do you want to tell people, like, where they can find you?

Do you want them to, like, follow you on Instagram or anything or.

Not really.

It's up to you.

Yeah.

Blocking my Instagram right now.

Hiding myself.

Oh, you are.

Well, yeah.

I'm just kidding.

If you want to follow me on.

On Instagram.

I don't.

I don't necessarily post, like, things.

I just post a lot of stuff of my travels.

Yeah.

But I mean, that's.

That's the great thing about being a traveling clinician.

It's just every weekend's a new adventure.

Really?

Every day is a new adventure.

I went hiking yesterday in the snow, so.

Oh, my goodness, that was cool.

Well, like we were talking about, it's 60 degrees here and I'm freezing, so.

Yeah, I don't think Washington is the state for me.

Yeah.

But I mean, hey, for a skier like me, it's right up my alley.

But, yeah, if you want to follow.

If anyone wants to follow me on Instagram, it's@physio.

Matt, with two T's.

You're welcome to ask me questions on my Instagram.

Appreciate it.

Y' all can go find.

Find Matt.

Maybe I'll find a good throwback photo from high school and.

And post it for everybody.

Wacky.

That just, you know, really captures my personality.

Yeah.

When we were just like little babies.

Yeah.

But hopefully you make it back to Georgia soon so we can hang out in person.

Yeah, definitely.

I know we gotta couple of weddings coming up.

Yeah, It'll be fun.

So.

All right.

Thanks, Matt.

Appreciate it, Savannah.

Huge thanks to Matt for coming on and sharing his insights into the world of being a physical therapist and traveling and.

Sorry, that was a little bit of a longer episode, but it was nice to catch up and kind of talk about our careers, and it's really neat that we're both at that point together.

So I'm excited that I'll get to see Matt in these next couple months.

But if you have any questions, I'm sure he's happy to answer them and feel free to email me, as always, and kind of the normal stuff.

If you're not in our Facebook group or if this is your first time listening, definitely check out the Pre PA Club on Facebook.

It's a great group.

We have people joining every single day.

Lots of people asking questions.

It's of a lot, lot of fun.

If you need me in there, make sure to tag me, because sometimes I miss stuff.

But yeah, I'm loving the Facebook group.

And also make sure you're following me on Instagram at the PA Platform, which is my website where I have a lot of information and you can find my email on there.

And.

Yeah, so we'll see you next week.

And I think next week it's gonna be just me answering some questions.

As always, you can leave a voicemail question on the website if you want to do that and be featured on the podcast.

And we're going to be talking about kind of some hot topics in pre PA stuff, one of those being mentors and kind of programs and shadowing and what that should look like and what it shouldn't look like.

So that's something I've been getting a lot of questions about and hearing about a lot.

So look forward to that and I'll see you guys next week.

Yeah, so.

So have a good weekend.