A registered physical therapist's job ranges from diagnosing patients who have health challenges affecting their movement to helping injured people manage their pain and improve movement in the trouble areas. As a registered physical therapist, you have to assist people in restoring their physical mobility. To do this, you will schedule appointments with patients and monitor their improvements.
You will also help enhance patients' general well-being and increase the quality of their lives. Physical therapists can work in so many places, from hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and nursing homes, to outpatient clinics and schools. However, becoming a physical therapist requires serious education and clinical experiences.
A bachelor's degree in a science-related field is usually the starting point. To practice, you need to obtain a master's degree or a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree from an accredited physical therapist program. The median hourly pay for a Registered Physical Therapist is $44.08 an hour or $87,930 yearly.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a registered physical therapist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.4 an hour? That's $77,802 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 22% and produce 54,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many registered physical therapists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed compassion, detail oriented and dexterity.
If you're interested in becoming a registered physical therapist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 58.0% of registered physical therapists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 19.3% of registered physical therapists have master's degrees. Even though most registered physical therapists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a registered physical therapist. When we researched the most common majors for a registered physical therapist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on registered physical therapist resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a registered physical therapist. In fact, many registered physical therapist jobs require experience in a role such as physical therapist. Meanwhile, many registered physical therapists also have previous career experience in roles such as physical therapy internship or respiratory therapist.