Physiotherapy
For my career’s inquiry I decided to look into physiotherapy. I thought this was a good inquiry for me and my classmates. Because this inquiry helped us to decide if you want to pursue this career or not. I got to learn about physiotherapy which was pretty interesting. The reason I chose this topic was because I have had many injuries in the past 3 years. I have gone to a physiotherapist and that's what helped me recover. Now the rest of this report will be talking about physiotherapy, what they do, how they do whatever they're doing ECT.
What is physiotherapy?
So what is physiotherapy? Physiotherapy is treatment. Treatment helping people like myself recovering from injuries or illnesses from neck injuries to toe injuries. They can help you by giving you exercises or they can just give you a massage. The exercises are usually to use the muscle/tendon to make it stronger.If you have a not so bad injury you probably go for therapy for 2-3 sessions but if you got a bad injury you could be going to see them for 7-8 weeks depending on how bad it is.
Most exciting thing about the job
What are some things that are great about this job? The first thing that I think is pretty cool is socialising with new people getting to know them as you treat them. Getting to talk to someone is much more exciting than sitting there working in an office or even performing therapy in silence. When you have helped someone through an injury you can know that you have helped them. When you talk to new people you learn something everyday.
Pay
Physiotherapists earn a decent amount of money for what they do. A new physiotherapist ( just graduated). Earns about $52,000-$57,000 which is not the greatest pay ever. A mid level physiotherapist earns about $60,000-$80,000. But an experienced physiotherapist earns about
$81,000-$112,000 a year. meaning they earn around about $30-$40 an hour. If they have just started their career they will earn about $30 an hour. Compared to some other jobs in the healthcare industry they don’t really get paid a lot (e.g Doctors usually earn $204,000 a year, a dentist makes $200,000 a year). So you can see that it's not a well paid job for what they do.
Qualifications
What qualification do I need to be a successful physiotherapist?. First of all I will need to get NCEA level 3 to go to university ( higher education). When you are at university you have to complete a masters degree or a bachelor's degree.This is probably one of the most important qualifications you need to become a physiotherapist. Depending on what area you want to specialise in you have to complete an extra assessment ( e.g working with older people you have to complete a portfolio assessment, a practical clinic assessment, and a review with the New Zealand physiotherapy board).
Personally If I was to work in this industry I would like to work with athletes and sports. To get there you can just be like any other physio except it would be preferred if you play sport yourself and understand injuries and movement.
Benefits
What are some benefits you can gain from this job?. One of them is getting to know new people and patients. Because why you're helping them it benefits you and them when talking to them. Another benefit is getting paid every week or so. That would probably be the biggest benefit of working (be a physiotherapist). You also get to work with other people that have a speciality you can ask them and they will come help the patient with what is needed.
Qualities & skills
What are some qualities that I need to develop to become successful in this job?. In a job such as physiotherapy you need a set of skills to be good at your job. Some of the most important skills are interpersonal skills, tolerance, patience, and problem solving. The not so important skills but are still good to have are good time management, good physical and mental health, problem solving skills, and the ability to work in a team. To have these skills is quite important if you want to be good at your job.
Interpersonal skills
This is one of the most important skills to have. Because you need to understand what the person needs and where their pain is occurring. Another reason to have this skill is so you treat them like a human instead of just fixing the wound actually talk to them about how they did it. And just how you interact with your patients.
Tolerance & patience
Tolerance and patience is quite important when it comes to physiotherapy. First of all tolerance, why do you need tolerance in physiotherapy?. It's because when you're listening to them and you disagree. That means you can say it in a nice way instead of not being very tolerant and just saying your wrong. Patience is quite the same as tolerance. But you have to understand their temper and personality so you can work with them. And if they have a disability like autism you would have to be patient and tolerant.
Problem solving
Problem solving is a good thing to have when giving someone therapy because you need to work out what is wrong with the patient and what the patient has done (e.g pulled a muscle or pulled a ligament).
What do I need to do from the present to the future to
be Successful?
What are qualifications, steps, I need to take, to be successful in physiotherapy?. The first step is to take chemistry, biology, physics and health and P.E get NCEA level 3 for all of them. If I do that then I can go into tertiary training, and get a bachelor’s degree(BPT). This is a 4 and a half year program, and after that you should be able to get a Job in physiotherapy. But to get these qualifications I need to actually do it not try.
Conclusion
For this inquiry I researched physiotherapy and how and if this was the job for me.
But towards the end I was thinking about whether I would want to do this job every day of my life and enjoy it. The answer is no, I don't think I would be passionate about some aspects of the job.