Burned Out?
Burned Out?
Questions to ask yourself before you start your own practice
The current reality: many physical therapists are burned out, stressed out, and unhappy in their staff PT jobs.
For some of us, this starts as early as clinical rotations in physical therapy school. For some, it starts in our first job after graduation. For others, the disappointment, disillusionment, and resentment builds over time.
We start to look at other options:
Will I only be happy if I quit being a PT altogether?
Do I start looking for other similar jobs or move into a management position?
Do I completely change my focus to inpatient, home health, or travel PT?
Do I start my own practice?
It’s becoming more and more common for physical therapists in this position to look into opening their own practice, especially a cash practice.
Why does the idea of cash practice resonate so much with burned out physical therapists?
We’ve been working in high-volume clinics where we’re double booked and want to treat one-on-one
We feel we can’t provide quality care to the patients we have
We’re not making enough money per patient (at the average high-volume job this can be as little as $10-15/patient)
We have student loans to pay off and we’re feeling frustrated that we spent so much money on our doctoral degree
We aren’t in control of our schedules
We aren’t treating in the way we want
We’ve started to resent the leadership or management in our current company because we feel taken advantage of
If you’re a physical therapist, it’s likely that at least one (or maybe all) of these resonates with you or has resonated with you at one point in your career. But….is becoming a practice owner the solution?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself about burnout before you go down the path to entrepreneurship:
Are you burned out because of the number of patients you’re seeing OR because you aren’t getting any benefit from seeing all those patients?
Sometimes, burnout is just about patient volume. You just want to work fewer hours and see fewer patients overall. This is what I thought my burnout problem was at first. I was tired of patient care and when I opened my practice, I planned to see 4-5 patients a week max.
But… by the end of my first year at my own practice, I was seeing 45 patients a week for 60-minute sessions. I was working more actual patient care hours than I used to, but I wasn’t feeling anything like the old level of “burnout” I had at my old job.
This was because I was actually benefitting from seeing all of those patients (I was treating on the hour, I was providing quality care, I was making money from taking on additional patients, I was growing my own business). I needed to reduce my treating hours, but just because I didn’t want to spend all my time in patient care and wanted to grow my business in other ways-- not because I was “burned out.”
Are you burned out because you want more work-life balance (or to work less), OR do you really just want more control over your schedule?
Do you really just want to leave work at work and have more “work-life balance”? Or is it more that you want control over your schedule?
If it’s the former, entrepreneurship might not be the best option as it will become more difficult to leave work at work. If it’s just that you want to work on your own terms (schedule an appointment for yourself when you want to, work out when you want to, pick your kids up from school, not work holidays) but not work less, entrepreneurship could be a good fit.
Are you burned out because you resent the leadership in your company and feel taken advantage of, or is it because you want to be in charge of the decisions?
It can be difficult to separate these two. But...would you be happy working for someone else if you felt more valued, appreciated, had more control over your schedule, and got a higher salary? Or is it really that you want to be in charge and don’t want to follow someone else’s rules and policies?
Are you burned out because you don’t believe in your company’s philosophy?
If this is the case, your solution might be entrepreneurship but doesn’t have to be. If you’re looking to treat in a more fitness-forward or wellness-based approach, there may be another small private practice in your area you could work for. It may be more about finding the right fit than about needing to start your own practice.
Are you burned out because you resent doing unpaid work (documentation, marketing, emails), or because you want to be doing that work for yourself?
Entrepreneurship is all about doing “unpaid” work, especially in the start-up phase. Are you resentful of doing unpaid work because you don’t believe in your company’s philosophy or feel taken advantage of and need to find a new job with a higher salary or leadership that makes you feel invested in your job? Or are you resentful of doing unpaid work because you want to put that time and energy into developing your own brand and reputation?
We would love to help you figure out why you are feeling burned out and if starting a business is your best solution.
