American interested in the Netherlands

[physiosarah]

Hi there,

I afraid I agree with the above comments. I am currently in the process of finishing my last lot of requirements the work in the US. I am 9 years post grad with lots of manual based courses under my belt and because I never I had Physics or sociology as an A level I have to take exams in these subjects. I also had to do a tissue viabilty course because a small section on wound care was not part of my degree.

From what I can gather from colleagues in th US there are alot more restrictions clinically that there are here in the UK NZ and Australia, an probably lots of other places. The masters content and Doctorate for that matter is similar to our bachelors degrees here and we far outweigh the clinical hours put in as an undergraduate.

Sorry, I don't want to sound as though I'm slagging US degrees off!!

I Would be interested in hearing from any UK,NZ or OZ Physio's that have managed the uphill struggle for registration in the US.

Good luck in the Netherlands if you make it.

SArah

[polyboy]

I went over in 1997 after a year so it was a long uphill struggle both with getting registered for PT and getting a visa, although since 9/11 getting a visa is alot harder. The problem with the way PT is in the US is that there doesn't seem to be a national professional standard body that makes working in any state easy. each state has their own requirements that differ from state to state which really makes it difficult for foreigners. granted they do have a national exam but there again even if you pass some states want different pass rates. the other thing is you don't know which states accept your degree until you put in an application as they won't tell you upfront so you have to go with the credentialling agency they recommend pay couple 100 bucks to be told sorry not accepted. there is some hypocrisy because they say our PROFESSIONAL degree is on par (our Bachelor to their masters) but because we don't have some basic papers then they won't issue a license. for kiwi's it was easier to get into new york, louisiana, illinois, michigan that i know of. i did though enjoy the 9 years i was there but the health system did take some getting use to. about the only problem i encountered with entry level doctorate students was their perception that as they had a doctorate then for some reason they thought they had superior skills and knowledge, the clinical arena was a great levelling and learning field to bring them back to reality.