Outpatient physical therapist vs clinician

The differences between outpatient physical therapists and clinicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an outpatient physical therapist has an average salary of $66,359, which is higher than the $60,150 average annual salary of a clinician.

The top three skills for an outpatient physical therapist include patients, physical therapy and rehabilitation. The most important skills for a clinician are social work, patients, and patient care.

Outpatient physical therapist vs clinician overview

	Outpatient Physical Therapist	Clinician
Yearly salary	$66,359	$60,150
Hourly rate	$31.90	$28.92
Growth rate	17%	9%
Number of jobs	119,973	105,023
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Master's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Average age	41	45
Years of experience	-	4

What does an outpatient physical therapist do?

An outpatient physical therapist specializes in diagnosing and treating a patient's movement dysfunction often caused by an illness or injury. Their responsibilities revolve around studying a patient's medical history, performing initial assessments, crafting a specific care and treatment plan, and discussing the extent of treatments with patients and their families. An outpatient physical therapist may also provide advice to families or guardians on how to assist and care for patients at home, prescribe medication, and perform follow-up consultations.

What does a clinician do?

A clinician specializes in providing diagnosis, treatment, and direct care to patients with different illnesses. A clinician's duties mainly revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis, providing medical care through various therapies, and improving one's overall health condition. Furthermore, a clinician must obtain and analyze a patient's complete medical history, provide diagnostic tests, always monitor the effects of treatment on a patient, provide prognosis and consider the overall impact on a patient's health and well-being.

Outpatient physical therapist vs clinician salary

Outpatient physical therapists and clinicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Outpatient Physical Therapist	Clinician
Average salary	$66,359	$60,150
Salary range	Between $40,000 And $108,000	Between $34,000 And $103,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Nevada
Best paying company	Accountable Healthcare Holdings Corp.	Pace University
Best paying industry	Non Profits	-

Differences between outpatient physical therapist and clinician education

There are a few differences between an outpatient physical therapist and a clinician in terms of educational background:

	Outpatient Physical Therapist	Clinician
Most common degree	Master's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Most common major	Social Work	Psychology
Most common college	Boston University	California State University - Long Beach

Outpatient physical therapist vs clinician demographics

Here are the differences between outpatient physical therapists' and clinicians' demographics:

	Outpatient Physical Therapist	Clinician
Average age	41	45
Gender ratio	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 11.3% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 3.1% White, 74.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	12%	15%

Differences between outpatient physical therapist and clinician duties and responsibilities

Outpatient physical therapist example responsibilities.

Facilitate development of coping techniques to manage psychiatric symptoms effectively; educate patients on importance of medication management and compliance.
Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Perform assessments with clients to determine diagnosis and need of services.
Complete intake assessment and formulate diagnosis.
Assist veterans with transportation to interviews.
Provide active case management service for veterans in residential treatment.

Clinician example responsibilities.

Perform thorough substance abuse assessments incorporating instruments such as ASAM, SASSI and urine drug screens; provide individual therapy.
Spearhead the development of rehabilitation programs serving adults with chemical dependency and mental health diagnoses with the manager.
Follow all ethical CARF standards when treating the residential client.
Facilitate stabilization, assessment, care and compassion for those in critical need.
Provide CBT and motivational interviewing for individual and group therapy to clients' who are on methadone.
Used motivational interviewing to lead recovery and therapy groups for IOP and PHP programs in the evenings and on weekends.

Outpatient physical therapist vs clinician skills

Common outpatient physical therapist skills

Patients, 23%
Physical Therapy, 17%
Rehabilitation, 11%
Patient Care, 10%
Therapy Services, 5%
Social Work, 5%

Common clinician skills

Social Work, 26%
Patients, 14%
Patient Care, 4%
Individual Therapy, 4%
Mental Health, 4%
Mental Illness, 3%

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Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Outpatient Physical Therapist
Outpatient Physical Therapist vs Clinician

Updated January 8, 2025

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