Physical Therapy Colleges

Among the various physical therapy colleges, why is it that none of them offer marketing education (emphasis on clinical skills and theoretical knowledge instead of real world marketing knowledge).

In today's health care scenario, a physical therapist cannot aim to manage the care of patients or clients without considering their resources, the fees that may be charged for the services provided, and a host of other factors related to the business aspect his or her practice. Skills like leadership, administration, management, and marketing are a crucial part of physical therapy today.

Administration and management skills depict the business side of physical therapist practice. These are necessary for a well-organized PT practice. Leadership is the means through which the physical therapist faces the problems he/she comes up against. Leadership can take many forms and represents the roles that therapists assume to fulfill their professional responsibilities in their chosen practice areas.

All of these skills are important to clinical practice, and should therefore be included in courses taught by physical therapy colleges.

The APTA's Normative Model, which guides the curriculum in physical therapy colleges, lists 5 categories of business and management skills expected of new graduates: direction and supervision of human resources, participation in financial management, establishment of a business plan, participation in marketing and public relations, and use of other business strategies in physical therapist management. However, the Normative Model does not specify which specific skills or groups of skills are most critical for newly graduated physical therapists on setting up their practice, nor does it indicate the level of skill or knowledge that should be required. In addition, it is not known whether these 5 suggested content areas are the most appropriate areas that need to be included in the curriculum of physical therapy colleges.

The absence of any clear directions and objectives has made PT colleges churn out students who have the requisite clinical skills required to be a physical therapist but do not have the real world knowledge of how to market their practice. There is essentially a gap between theory and practice in what is taught in physical therapy colleges. Recently graduated physical therapists find them themselves at a loss when it comes to managing aspects like getting more clients, boosting up referrals or marketing their services. Sometimes, physical therapists spend money on marketing plans without understanding whether the marketing strategy will work for them or not.

This is why PT colleges need to offer marketing as part of the curriculum so that the students are ready to face the world when they actually set up their own practice.