By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN

The demand for traveling rehabilitation therapists – in physical, occupational and speech therapy – has not been even remotely hampered by these challenging economic times. Travel professionals in these fields have more career choices than ever. Healthcare providers in these vital and rewarding fields have earned opportunities through extensive education, dedication to their patients and a commitment to gaining continuous experience rehabilitation patients and improving their quality of life. Therefore, rehabilitation therapists might enjoy considering passing along some of their knowledge and passion for their profession, to the next generation.

Whether they choose to personally mentor a physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology assistant or student in training or participate in a high school career day, acting as a professional role model for aspiring therapists can be a mutually rewarding endeavor. For the traveling rehabilitation therapist, mentoring can be an excellent way to pass the time between assignments while investing in the physical, occupational or speech therapy profession and giving back.

Volunteer Ideas:

• Contact your local school system and get their schedule of upcoming career day events; volunteer to participate!

• Contact the Career Services department of local colleges and universities and do the same. I can attest from personal experience that folks at Career services love to involve professionals from the community in fun career oriented student outreach events!

• Look up any local job skill training and development programs and do the same

• Contact any physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech therapy schools in your area and volunteer your services as an in class guest speaker (as needed of course)

Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.

By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN

As a briefly aspiring little figure skater, I was thrilled when my parents took me to see the Ice Capades, starring Olympic gold medalist and superstar Dorothy Hamill. I was so inspired by Ms. Hamill’s performance that my mom says I slept with a souvenir button from the show pinned to my pajamas and promptly bought a Dorothy Hamill doll.  The doll ultimately outlasted my figure skating ambitions, but for many young children those dreams of athletic superstardom never fade.  Each day, committed kids across the country wake up early and put their little bodies through the paces of demanding athletic and fitness regimens, all in the hopes of making their Olympic or professional sports dreams come true someday.

I will admit that growing up, watching kids my age compete in the Olympics was very exciting.  Later in life after studying the way the human body works, however, the glamour wore off a bit.  I started seeing those little, actively growing bodies hurling through the air over and over and landing on one leg, as injuries waiting to happen.

The increasing number of stress fractures physical therapists are seeing and clinicians are studying in child and adolescent athletes, seems to validate my concerns.  A 2006 study* of stress fractures in competitive child athletes (subjects with actively developing skeletal systems) concluded that the majority of stress fractures in younger athletes are seen in the lower extremities.  Endurance sports and sports requiring “sudden stops” contributed to the poorest clinical outcomes.

The role of the physical therapist in treating these injuries includes working on range of motion exercises on the affected body parts, core strength and non-weight bearing exercises in a swimming pool.  The physical therapist will also encourage their young patient not to jump right back into their usual rigorous athletic and fitness routine, but to take it slow so they don’t re-injure themselves.

Skilled physical therapists and therapists working in travel PT jobs, have a unique opportunity to help competitive young athletes recover from injury safely and get back in the game again.  And with kids begging their parents to get in the game earlier and earlier in life, ongoing research in the area of pediatric stress fractures and other sports-related injuries will certainly have an impact on the physical therapy industry.

*Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, August 2006

Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.

By Christine Whitmarsh RN, BSN

As an orthopedic nurse, I always had a great deal of respect and admiration for the physical therapists who worked with my patients, especially post-operatively. When patients came into my care following complex surgical procedures such as total hip replacements, total knee replacements and spinal surgery, they were acutely ill, attached to a myriad of pumps and machines, immobile and required skill nursing care for every basic need. It always astounded me how, under the care of physical therapists these same patients would be walking circles around the nurse’s station within days.

Watching the therapists work with my patients, I realized early in my nursing career that this is definitely a therapeutic relationship where the patient and provider work together in reaching a defined set of rehabilitation goals. The challenge, of course, is convincing the patient of this. Post-operative orthopedic patients are usually in severe pain from surgical trauma and incisions, exhausted from large amounts of pain medication and the last thing they want to do is get out of bed and go for a walk. Believe me I feel for all you physical therapists because I see the patient’s reaction when you walk in their room – not exactly a ticker tape parade in your honor, is it? Physical therapy and the resulting restoration of mobility is vital in post-operative patients for medical reasons like preventing blood clots in the legs and also for emotional and psychological reasons such as allowing the patient to feel “normal” again.

Again – I top my nursing hat (in a metaphorical Florence Nightingale sort of way) to all physical therapists for their vital role in restoring a patient’s mobility and quality of life.

Travel Physical Therapists: What have been the most rewarding experiences you’ve had working with post-operative patients across the country in various clinical settings?

Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.