What Is a Travel PT and How to Become One

Instead of working at one office or therapy facility, a travel physical therapist travels across a city, state, region, or country to provide physical therapy. You may focus specifically on providing services to at-risk or underserved populations, or you may contract with a health care staffing agency that sends you to wherever extra PTs are needed. As a travel PT, your duties and responsibilities are the same as they would be if you worked in a hospital, pain clinic, or outpatient facility. You provide pain management strategies and help your patients recover and regain mobility after accidents, injuries, or surgeries.

To become a travel PT, you need to have the same qualifications as you would to be a physical therapist. You have to attend a program that confers a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. Most of these programs require a bachelor’s degree for admission, but some programs combine undergraduate and graduate training into one. Your studies include courses in anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and pharmacology, and they also contain a practical clinical component. Like medical students, many PTs complete residencies after finishing graduate school. After your residency, you must pass the National Physical Therapy Examination before you can work.

Travel PTs need a wide range of skills to succeed, some of which are unique to the rigors of constantly traveling for work. PTs need to be compassionate and patient with their clients. Some of them have significant, long-term physical problems or have completed major surgery, and you need to be encouraging and work at their pace during recovery. You must be strong and have good dexterity as well. All PTs need good time-management, but as a travel PT, you need to be superior at maintaining a work schedule as you travel from facility to facility.

The major advantages of working as a travel PT are the flexibility and adventure of the job. Travel PTs rarely have set schedules. Working as a travel PT also means you get to explore the country as you work, so for people who want to travel while they work, it is a good opportunity. Also, travel PTs often get paid more, especially because there is a greater need for them in some areas of the country, and strong demand means you can command a higher rate for your work.