General atmosphere for US Trained physio's looking to live in NZ

[DEccles]

Hello everyone! Thank you for letting me join your NZ physio community. My name is Daren Eccles and I am a US born, trained and licensed physio. I have a US Doctor of Physical Therapy degree focusing mostly on outpatient orthopedics and am working towards my Maitland-Australian COMT.

My family and I (wife and 5yo son) are considering a temp to indefinite relocation out of the US and NZ is high among our list of places we're looking into.

My question, and request for the forum members, and those of you who are based in NZ, is what the atmosphere is like in the NZ physio world for US trained physios and their families. We want to be somewhere where we'll be welcomed and can productive members of the community in our new location. Based on your experience, how do US trained physio's fit in and transition when working in NZ? I know that our systems and scope of practice are different so I'd love to get the perspective of someone formally trained in NZ. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,

Daren Eccles

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[Fyzzio]

Hi,
as you will know, NZ has got a multicultural population with a large amount of foreign residents.
It is difficult to comment, as I have never met a US trained Physio who managed to get NZ registration.

The attitude towards foreign trained Physios in general is good. Nobody seems to care where you have been trained once you have registration.

Good luck,
Fyzzio

[DEccles]

Hi,
as you will know, NZ has got a multicultural population with a large amount of foreign residents.
It is difficult to comment, as I have never met a US trained Physio who managed to get NZ registration.

The attitude towards foreign trained Physios in general is good. Nobody seems to care where you have been trained once you have registration.

Good luck,
Fyzzio

I've looked at the registration guidelines and they look fairly straight forward. If you don't mind me asking, is it more difficult than it seems or is it just not common?

[Fyzzio]

Hi,
I wouldn't have a clue, really.
But from hearsay ... apparently the US cardioresp. training does not meet NZ standards. Neither medical nor surgical.
But your own training might have been different. Who knows.

[DEccles]

Thanks for your input. I'm going to look into contacting the NZ boards and see if they've any preliminary input on US Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees in general; the application doesn't list anything specific enough to show any glaring deficits in the US curriculum at face value. Cheers

[JAPhysio]

Hi there!

I also have my DPT from the US.
However, I received my BSc. Physical Therapy from Jamaica. I submitted both curricula to the board and received my registration without any need for additional courses or doing a competency exam.

I got my registration approved in October 2016 and have been happily employed since December 2016. The environment is great! I'm in Auckland so I can only speak specifically about that area, but it has been a very good working experience. New Zealand is truly an amazing country to start and build with your family.

Feel free to shoot me a private message for more info. I'd be happy to help!