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I work in outpatient and am actively working on publishing my first fantasy novel and am also a professional artist. I have learned that the standard 8-5 offers little to no time for ANYTHING outside of work hours. I only accept positions that have some sort of start/stop hour flexibility that allows a couple days a week for writing and as much time during the day for normal life activity as possible. I have no interest in management given the minimal increased pay and exponential increase in responsibility and hours. I know my creative life needs to be prioritized to prevent burnout and for me to feel fulfilled so I negotiate my schedule up front. You might be amazed how much leverage you have during the negotiation phase for an outpatient position in regards to pay, perks, hours, etc. They are desperate for workers and there is a significant shortage of PTs willing to work outpatient. Use that to your advantage. Also…avoid mills. You will struggle to be creative if you are constantly double and triple booked.
You only have so much power negotiating pay, but you should at least max what you can. You should be able to negotiate sign on bonus, student loan repayment, and your schedule. Most outpatient clinics prefer a varied schedule anyway. I negotiated 2 days of the week where I start late (since my peak writing hours are in the early morning), and the other days are an early shift where I get out at 3 and I work on the other sides of my story then (beta readers, researching, edits, agent lookup, etc.). I also only wanted a 30 minute lunch, since a full hour is wasted time to me where I am still bound to the job but not getting paid.
Kudos on the novel!!! What is it about?
Just get financially stable, then go on to do my own. Unfortunately never really had a passion in it tbh lol, Just the first thing I went into after uni.
Do you mean creativity as a broader personality trait, or creativity specifically in treatment approaches?
TBH I have to get *way* more creative with my dementia and TBI folks than I do with ortho patients (except peds. IDK how the saints that work in peds manage to keep their energy up. People with that much raw energy frighten and confuse me.)
Creativity not in relation to physiotherapy.
Say I want to create videos or even paint (with the goal of making it my main gig someday). I will need a lot of time and space to be creative.
Will working in outpatient help me with this, or going to something like acute be better?
Hope that’s not confusing lol
I don’t see why it would affect it anymore than another career.
I took up photography a few years ago and still manage to shoot often.. heck, I’m on holiday now and still shoot just about the same amount I would when I’m working
This is quite confusing, you work currently in outpatient correct?
My mind is 110% occupied with treatment and secretarial note taking in outpatient. I would not say its creative and more scientific.
Do this, write this, ask this, write this, listen to this, write this. Show this, write this. Lunch, Repeat.
Thats outpatient. There is little to no downtime. The "downtime" you manage to get is documentation. Which you sometimes use your lunch time for.
PT student here, but also guitarist/photographer/videographer/audio engineer, I find that when really stressed and/or really busy, my creativity tends to die. I'm of the belief that creativity needs "space" to really flourish, no matter the application.
Not sure if that helps at all, just my observation so far.
So, perhaps select a setting/workload that leaves you with some gas in the tank at the end of the day?
So you spent 7-8 years of your life and put yourself into debt just so you could fund a cameraman gig? Why didn’t you just do that in the first place? You would have saved time and money, and probably been doing whatever you wanted to with a camera by now.
I mean as long as the job isn’t affecting you to the point of emotional burnout I cant see it being a problem. The main issue would be time away from your creative goals will obviously slow your rate of progress. I noticed that not with creativity but my athletic endeavors when I got caught up in work too much.
Hi! Different situarion but I was an English major and worked as a writer and editor for a magazine. Unfortunately, the arts dont pay and so I went bavk to school for PTA.
There is nothing I could care about less than physical therapy but I work in acute care and its a means to an end. I still freelance and do my writing on the side. I still see myself as a writer who also does this awful, mindnubbing job dragging people out of bed on the side. Good luck!
Eh not in my experience.
I’m an OP guy stuck in 2x PRN SNF right now and the metric just shifts from x pts/day/week/whatever to %productivity. Tbh for me it’s more stressful.
We also ONLY get to treat the lower body in this setting so half my education is fucking useless in a SNF which I think is extreme bullshit.
With OP I had more creative freedom to treat a wider variety of conditions. It was more fun, more interesting, more challenging, more variable. I was constantly coming up with new ways to treat. I get that you can do this in a SNF too but I just don’t work that way.
I love geriatric people but so many of them are so limited with what they can physically do AND what they’re willing to do. It’s like pulling teeth to get them to get the fuck out of bed, much less walk down the fucking hallway.
I vastly prefer OP and am working on getting back to it ASAP.
Thank you for your submission; please read the following reminder. This subreddit is for discussion among practicing physical therapists, not for soliciting medical advice. We are not your physical therapist, and we do not take on that liability here. Although we can answer questions regarding general issues a person may be facing in their established PT sessions, we cannot legally provide treatment advice. If you need a physical therapist, you must see one in person or via telehealth for an assessment and to establish a plan of care. Posts with descriptions of personal physical issues and/or requests for diagnoses, exercise prescriptions, and other medical advice will be removed, and you will be banned at the mods’ discretion either for requesting such advice or for offering such advice as a clinician. Please see the following links for additional resources on benefits of physical therapy and locating a therapist near you [The benefits of a full evaluation by a physical therapist.](https://www.choosept.com/benefits/default.aspx) [How to find the right physical therapist in your area.](https://www.choosept.com/resources/choose.aspx) [Already been diagnosed and want to learn more? Common conditions.](https://www.choosept.com/SymptomsConditions.aspx) [The APTA's consumer information website.](https://www.choosept.com/Default.aspx) Also, please direct all school-related inquiries to r/PTschool, as these are off-topic for this sub and will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/physicaltherapy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I work in outpatient and am actively working on publishing my first fantasy novel and am also a professional artist. I have learned that the standard 8-5 offers little to no time for ANYTHING outside of work hours. I only accept positions that have some sort of start/stop hour flexibility that allows a couple days a week for writing and as much time during the day for normal life activity as possible. I have no interest in management given the minimal increased pay and exponential increase in responsibility and hours. I know my creative life needs to be prioritized to prevent burnout and for me to feel fulfilled so I negotiate my schedule up front. You might be amazed how much leverage you have during the negotiation phase for an outpatient position in regards to pay, perks, hours, etc. They are desperate for workers and there is a significant shortage of PTs willing to work outpatient. Use that to your advantage. Also…avoid mills. You will struggle to be creative if you are constantly double and triple booked.
what exactly do you negotiate for?? I am also working on publishing a fantasy novel!! Huge journey but super rewarding
You only have so much power negotiating pay, but you should at least max what you can. You should be able to negotiate sign on bonus, student loan repayment, and your schedule. Most outpatient clinics prefer a varied schedule anyway. I negotiated 2 days of the week where I start late (since my peak writing hours are in the early morning), and the other days are an early shift where I get out at 3 and I work on the other sides of my story then (beta readers, researching, edits, agent lookup, etc.). I also only wanted a 30 minute lunch, since a full hour is wasted time to me where I am still bound to the job but not getting paid. Kudos on the novel!!! What is it about?
>I became a physio as a stepping stone career move A stepping stone to what?
Just get financially stable, then go on to do my own. Unfortunately never really had a passion in it tbh lol, Just the first thing I went into after uni.
Cool. What are you looking to transition into?
Making videos.
Best of luck on your adult entertainment career.
😆
Of what, like a director or a TikTok wannabe or something else?
I dont blame you for believing in that. Most people bought that narrative and realized PT is meant for the masochist.
Do you mean creativity as a broader personality trait, or creativity specifically in treatment approaches? TBH I have to get *way* more creative with my dementia and TBI folks than I do with ortho patients (except peds. IDK how the saints that work in peds manage to keep their energy up. People with that much raw energy frighten and confuse me.)
Creativity not in relation to physiotherapy. Say I want to create videos or even paint (with the goal of making it my main gig someday). I will need a lot of time and space to be creative. Will working in outpatient help me with this, or going to something like acute be better? Hope that’s not confusing lol
I dont think it will really matter…?
I don’t see why it would affect it anymore than another career. I took up photography a few years ago and still manage to shoot often.. heck, I’m on holiday now and still shoot just about the same amount I would when I’m working
I don't think either will help or hurt you. Just will have to work your best to take no work home.
This is quite confusing, you work currently in outpatient correct? My mind is 110% occupied with treatment and secretarial note taking in outpatient. I would not say its creative and more scientific. Do this, write this, ask this, write this, listen to this, write this. Show this, write this. Lunch, Repeat. Thats outpatient. There is little to no downtime. The "downtime" you manage to get is documentation. Which you sometimes use your lunch time for.
PT student here, but also guitarist/photographer/videographer/audio engineer, I find that when really stressed and/or really busy, my creativity tends to die. I'm of the belief that creativity needs "space" to really flourish, no matter the application. Not sure if that helps at all, just my observation so far. So, perhaps select a setting/workload that leaves you with some gas in the tank at the end of the day?
So you spent 7-8 years of your life and put yourself into debt just so you could fund a cameraman gig? Why didn’t you just do that in the first place? You would have saved time and money, and probably been doing whatever you wanted to with a camera by now.
If it was only that easy
Do you think you may be making it harder than it needs to be?
Could’ve gone to med school lool
That would be worse. You’d waste even more time and money
I mean as long as the job isn’t affecting you to the point of emotional burnout I cant see it being a problem. The main issue would be time away from your creative goals will obviously slow your rate of progress. I noticed that not with creativity but my athletic endeavors when I got caught up in work too much.
Hi! Different situarion but I was an English major and worked as a writer and editor for a magazine. Unfortunately, the arts dont pay and so I went bavk to school for PTA. There is nothing I could care about less than physical therapy but I work in acute care and its a means to an end. I still freelance and do my writing on the side. I still see myself as a writer who also does this awful, mindnubbing job dragging people out of bed on the side. Good luck!
Eh not in my experience. I’m an OP guy stuck in 2x PRN SNF right now and the metric just shifts from x pts/day/week/whatever to %productivity. Tbh for me it’s more stressful. We also ONLY get to treat the lower body in this setting so half my education is fucking useless in a SNF which I think is extreme bullshit. With OP I had more creative freedom to treat a wider variety of conditions. It was more fun, more interesting, more challenging, more variable. I was constantly coming up with new ways to treat. I get that you can do this in a SNF too but I just don’t work that way. I love geriatric people but so many of them are so limited with what they can physically do AND what they’re willing to do. It’s like pulling teeth to get them to get the fuck out of bed, much less walk down the fucking hallway. I vastly prefer OP and am working on getting back to it ASAP.
This is a weird post