Unfortunately, it’s extremely common for physical therapists to become “burned-out” in their careers. Of course, everyone may look forward to a vacation or have a few bad days here and there—but that’s not what we mean by burned out. If you feel like:
- You are always negative about work, and you spread negativity to your staff
- You complain about work all the time to your spouse or friends
- You check out during team meetings or you’ve stopped conducting team meetings
- You don’t want to listen to your patient’s complaints or concerns
- You dread going to work every day
- Or you wish you could sell your business now and just retire to move on to something else
You may be burned out.
If you’re feeling this way about your career as a PT practice owner, there are a few things you can do to improve your situation. Just make sure you act fast. The longer you stay in this negative space, the harder it will be to recover from it.
Take a vacation
This is an obvious solution, but vacation time often gets pushed to the side when you have a business to run. You should plan on a few getaways each year, in order to take some time to rejuvenate and clear your head from work. Don’t feel guilty about taking some time off! Everyone needs it! A break could be just what you need to remind you why you love physical therapy.
Now, if it’s not possible for you to take a vacation because of low funds, or your business can’t operate without you present, you need to watch this webinar to see how you can gain more freedom of time in your practice.
Take a continuing education course
If you’re feeling powerless or unmotivated, sometimes stimulating your mind and learning something new can remind you why you love what you do. Increase your expertise in your specialty or learn a new treatment methodology that would be beneficial to your patients.
If you’re feeling unmotivated to do this, you may try something small like an online course or one-day seminar to get started.
Try a new hobby
You may be sick of the daily grind so much that a con-ed course doesn’t sound appealing at all. If that’s the case, take some time before or after work to try something you’ve always wanted to do.
You could try a cooking class, art, a local soccer league, kick-boxing, a dance class, ANYTHING! The possibilities are endless and it’s surprisingly refreshing to try a new hobby and get out of your comfort zone. It will give you something fun to look forward to if you’re feeling stagnant in your life.
Have a party or after hours event with your staff
Work can often become stressful, repetitive and stale. Having a staff outing focused on fun and celebration will help everyone feel closer with their coworkers, and they will feel positive and uplifted about their careers. Getting to know your staff and focusing on positivity will help you look forward to going to work every day.
Adjust your hours/hire more PTs
If you work 24/7, you should consider taking more time off from treating patients. Perhaps step into a management or marketing role once or twice a week in your practice. Or even go down to treating just three or four days a week.
However, if you’re the only licensed PT in your practice, this will force you to treat patients all day, every day and doesn’t give you much wiggle room for time off. Consider hiring another therapist or two to pick up the slack so you can gain more freedom to come and go as you please.
Look for a new service to provide your patients
Ever get tired of the same thing every day? Or perhaps you see a lot of patients for the same issues that you don’t really know how to treat. You should add additional services or products to your practice to further help your patients. That’s what got you into physical therapy in the first place: helping people feel better. Look for a new service that will really enhance your patient care.
One area of physical therapy that is lacking patient options is balance and vestibular therapy. Even if you already treat these patients, you could be treating them so much better with training in FYZICAL’s premier balance protocols. Adding a balance center to your existing practice is a great way to drastically enhance patient care, increase revenue and stimulate your career. Balance therapy has rejuvenated the careers of many practice owners, giving them the freedom and financial security to maintain a longer, happier career in physical therapy.
To learn more about how adding a FYZICAL balance center to your practice will improve your career and your life, click here.
