You love your career. You love helping your patients get better. You love seeing people who once had limited mobility exceed their wildest expectations.
You wouldn’t trade your career for anything in the world, but for some reason, your work isn’t as exciting as it once was.
Why leave your career when you can mix it up a little instead?
Traveling as a physical therapist affords you all the positive aspects of your staff position with many more bonus benefits! Learn how to become a travel physical therapist with Trusted Nurse Staffing’s comprehensive examination of this rewarding career.
Table of Contents
- What Does a Travel Physical Therapist Do?
- The Benefits of Working as a Travel Physical Therapist
- How To Become a Travel Physical Therapist: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
- Start Your Lucrative Career as a Travel Physical Therapist Journey With the Help of Pronto and Trusted Nurse Staffing
What Does a Travel Physical Therapist Do?
Physical therapists examine, diagnose, and treat patients who have injuries, disabilities, or other health conditions that require treatment.
By utilizing the efficacy of physical therapy, they help patients:
- Avoid surgery and prescription drugs
- Manage pain and chronic conditions
- Prevent future problems
- Improve physical function and fitness
- Maximize mobility
- Hasten recovery
When treating patients, physical therapists analyze their medical history and examine their condition to develop a treatment plan that improves movement, reduces or manages pain, restores functions, and prevents disability.
Physical therapists either work with patients or ask a physical therapist assistant to carry out the treatment plan after it is developed. They also monitor and adjust treatment plans based on patient progress.
As a traveling PT, you may go to different states or travel to nearby facilities to help fill gaps in the staffing population.
The Benefits of Working as a Travel Physical Therapist
Getting To Travel
Who doesn’t like to travel? And getting paid to do so?
That’s pretty much the dream!
As a traveling physical therapist, you get to set off to new cities and states every few months, delivering vital care to patients during their recovery from injuries, medical procedures, and ailments.
Many different facilities throughout the United States are consistently looking for experienced PTs who can fill gaps in their staffing population. This gives you plenty of choices and the potential to make new memories and see sides of our beautiful country that you normally wouldn’t. Unlike a two-week vacation, allied health travel contracts last up to 6, 8, or 12 weeks, giving you plenty of time to truly explore your destination.
Plus, if you hate the winter, you could pop down to the south from December until February to catch some rays and feel the warm weather for days.
If you’re a foodie who has always wanted to experience an authentic New England clambake, you can take an assignment that is on the coast of Massachusetts during the fall.
As a traveling physical therapist, the options are limitless.
Better Compensation
Healthcare workers, in general, deserve better compensation; let’s not forget that.
However, travel allied health professionals are meeting a unique demand and providing service to areas that may not always have access to their expertise. Because of this, traveling PTs usually make a little more than regular staff PTs.
As a travel physical therapist, you also save a bit on board and lodge with stipends. So, if you’re someone who is saving up to buy a house, pay for a wedding, or build up your nest egg, becoming a traveling healthcare worker for a year might be a pretty good deal.
More Freedom
As a healthcare worker, you know it’s rare to get to choose your schedule. From being on call to working around patient availability, you don’t get a lot of flexibility with scheduling or time off. Working as a travel PT, however, allows you a little more wiggle room. You still may not have a lot of control over your scheduling, but you can decide when and where you take contracts.
You could even choose to work contracts back to back or take breaks in between to visit family. No more scheduling vacations around your PTO or missing your favorite holiday. You can simply choose when your contract begins and ends.
With Trusted Nurse Staffing and Pronto, you can easily find assignments that align with your plans. All it takes is a few clicks of a button, and you’ll be viewing hundreds of travel assignments and opportunities with ease. Sign up for Pronto and get scrolling today.
How To Become a Travel Physical Therapist: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
Education
To become a physical therapist, you must:
- Earn a bachelor’s degree in a related field.
- Graduate from a Doctor of Physical Therapy program (DPT).
- Ensure your program is CAPTE-accredited.
- Programs last around three years but may be accelerated.
- Pass the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE).
- Obtain your physical therapist license.
- Complete a residency or fellowship (optional).
- Earn a board certification through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) (optional).
Licensure
Traveling physical therapists must obtain a license in every state they wish to travel and work in unless they are eligible for licensure by endorsement through the Physical Therapy Compact.
To be eligible for the PT Compact, you must:
- Have an active license in your home state.
- Establish a tax home.
Currently, 30 states are a part of the PT Compact. Eleven states have introduced or passed legislation but have not enacted Compact privileges. Nine states are not current members of the PT Compact. These states include:
- California
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- Wyoming
Continued Education
To be a travel physical therapist, you’ll need to maintain your license. This means meeting continued education requirements and renewing your license.
Most states require PTs to renew their license every two years, but some states, like Alabama, require it every year on September 30th.
Depending on your state of practice, you may be required to fulfill a certain amount of contact hours and continuing education units (CEUs).
Trusted Nurse Staffing shows their appreciation for their employees and their pursuits to increase their expertise and advance their careers through additional education. This is why we offer student loan, CEU, and certification reimbursements in our robust benefits package.
Experience
While there are no strict rules on how much experience a physical therapist should have before they can become a traveling allied health professional, most facilities and agencies prefer potential candidates to have at least two years of clinical experience. Others may want their PTs to have over 24 months of experience in a specialty, such as geriatric, neuro, orthopedic, sports, etc.
Demand
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job outlook for physical therapists is projected to grow 14% from now until 2033. Around 13,600 new PTs will be needed each year to keep up with demand.
Earning Potential
The average traveling physical therapist’s salary is $2,029 per week.
The top paying cities for travel physical therapists are:
- Mountain View, CA: $2,583 per week
- San Francisco, CA: $2,547 per week
- Castro Valley, CA: $2,534 per week
- Beverly Hills, CA: $2,513 per week
- San Jose, CA: $2,457 per week
- Oakland, CA: $2,404 per week
- Vallejo, CA: $2,400 per week
- Hayward, CA: $2,400 per week
- Ashland, CA: $2,400 per week
- Antioch, CA: $2,394 per week
The top ten highest-paying states for traveling PTs are:
- New York: $2,314 per week
- Vermont: $2,279 per week
- Pennsylvania: $2,119 per week
- Washington: $2,082 per week
- New Hampshire: $2,069 per week
- New Jersey: $2,059 per week
- Massachusetts: $2,055 per week
- Alaska: $2,045 per week
- Oregon: $2,025 per week
- Wisconsin: $2,025 per week
Start Your Lucrative Career as a Travel Physical Therapist Journey With the Help of Pronto and Trusted Nurse Staffing
Ready to take off with your new career as a traveling physical therapist?
Get a head start with the help of Trusted Nurse Staffing and Pronto. By offering access to hundreds of allied health assignments, we help potential candidates gain access to physical therapist jobs in just seconds.
Here’s how you can get started:
- Sign up for Pronto.
- Get connected with a recruiter who will help you through the contract process and answer any of your questions.
- Search on Pronto for travel physical therapist job listings that meet your preferences and qualifications.
- After you’ve found your dream assignment, Trusted Nurse Staffing will assign your team of support professionals, which includes:
- Clinical support
- Payroll and compliance experts
- Ongoing assignment advocacy
- And more
These teams will offer you continual support before, during, and after your assignment.
Additional perks included in your partnership with us include:
- A welcome box
- A $1,500 bonus for referring your friends or a facility not already employed with us
- An ambassador program where you can receive bonuses for creating exciting content about your experience as a Trusted Nurse Staffing partner
- And more
Don’t wait to get started; sign up for Pronto and work with Trusted Nurse Staffing today.