Recession Proof Your Career as a Hand Therapist
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[00:00:00] If you're an occupational therapist looking to develop your skills in hand therapy. This podcast is for you, your host, Hoang Tran occupational therapists, and certified hand therapists turned serial entrepreneur with her own therapy clinic in Miami. Hoang is an author and successful coach helping occupational therapists get jobs, develop their skills and become certified hand therapists so they can become experts in their.
[00:00:24] Hoang worked with occupational therapists from across the United States and around the world. She talks about everything from hand therapy, skills, career development, leadership skills, money, mindset, and business. You two can become an expert certified hand therapist, business owner, and have more choices in your career.
[00:00:41] Subscribe now.
[00:00:42] What's going on? I just, I did a story and I had more to say, so I was like, let me just come on, live and talk about this. And I would really love to get some feedback to, to get your point of view in my story. I said, degrees, you know, getting more degrees.
[00:01:05] Isn't necessarily equate to skills. So you can come up with more degrees and get more degrees, but that doesn't necessarily give you any kind of career stability. Right? It doesn't. Increase your ability to help someone. So, I said that, I said degrees don't equate to skills. So you, you know, as therapists, we're [00:01:30] occupational therapists here and some of you guys might be physical therapists and you're watching it means that you're interested in hand therapy, right?
[00:01:37] now degrees don't necessarily equate to like the, like that we can help anyone. Right. Degrees just mean like you enter to play, you enter to play the game. So we, we have a degree in occupational therapy, physical therapy. We enter the game to, to be able to provide that particular service. That's it. That don't mean a squat in terms of the ability to actually help someone tell, tell me, show me a person that came outta OT school, knowing exactly what to do with every single genre, every single group of people that we could help.
[00:02:16] Absolutely not. With the degree that we get, we're able to start the game and potentially help someone. and it's in helping people that we can get a job it's in helping someone that we can exchange, you know, the currency essentially. Right. Your degree as a therapist really just lets you enter to play.
[00:02:42] Now recently I've had people come up and say, Hey, if I'm, if I have if I'm a massage therapist, can I become a certified hand therapist? Absolutely not. Now. Are there massage therapist? Saying that they can help people with hand problems. Sure. But in the hand [00:03:00] therapy realm, as certified hand therapists, as occupational therapists, as physical therapists, helping people in hand therapy, we're helping a very particular group of people with hand arm problems, right.
[00:03:15] It is not the same as a massage therapist. If you are an assistant, if you are an occupational therapist assistant or a physical therapy assistant, can you do hand therapy? Of course you can. You can help people. If, as an assistant, you are working with that occupational therapist, you are working with that physical therapist that.
[00:03:38] Provide provides hand therapy and you, as the assistant can follow that particular plan of care that was created. And hopefully you have the skills in order to be able to help them. Now, I would say like, or is it last time? I looked 85% of hand. The, a certified hand therapists are occupational therapists and then the other percent is are.
[00:04:04] Do I say that 85% are occupational therapists and the rest are physical therapists. So if you're a physical therapist and occupational therapist, you can help with hand therapy, but there's a lot of people who could say they can treat certain types of hand and arm pain. Right. Certified hand therapist, though, if you are a certified hand therapist, that means that you help a very, very particular group of people [00:04:30] with that sustained hand and arm injuries, majority of the time it's with surgical cases.
[00:04:35] Right. And I'm not talking about like simple stuff. I'm not talking about like carpal tunnel, cuz then everyone's like, oh I can, I can massage that out. I can, you know, do all sorts of stuff to like alleviate the problem. Right. I. Look, well, I was just at a conference in CBD oil or creams, or like everywhere and their mother that, that claim to cure carpal tunnel.
[00:05:00] Right. There's products, there's people, there's different professions that can say that. But certified hand therapists, we help a very particular group of people with the sustained injury. And it can go from simple to complex and certified hand therapists are actually, they're known, right? They're known in the medical community to help people with very specific.
[00:05:27] Hand injuries. Right. We can help simple, too complex, but we have the ability to help them, right. And it's through the years through practice and through study that we become more and more skilled, right? It's through years and practice and studying that we become more and more skilled and through having very specific, very specialized skills that allows you to help a very particular group of people.
[00:05:57] so now once [00:06:00] you are specialized, you can have an opportunity to work with hand surgeons whether they be orthopedic hand surgeons, whether they be plastic surgeons that, that specialize in hands as well. But you have a, an opportunity to work really closely with surgeons and doctors and stuff like that to provide.
[00:06:19] Our specialized skills to their pocket of people, right. Coming out and looking for great function and great outcomes from these types of surgeries. We have the opportunity to work with patients that have major life events that have. You know, change their lives through these different types of injuries that they can sustain.
[00:06:40] And then we help them along the way, along their journey of recovery. And we get the chance to help them reduce the risk of it. Re-injury but we can also help reduce the risk of another surgery, right. Or if they, some cases they need another surgery and we have to have very specific conversations with them about what does that type of surgery need to look.
[00:07:04] I'll give you an example. I'm working with a flexor tendon. Now, flexor tendons are known in the hand therapy world to be quite complex and the, their outcomes can range. I mean, every, I always talk about our fingers, right. We have four fingers and a thumb, right. So I always say we have eight fingers and two thumbs.
[00:07:25] We have 10 digits but each of our digit. [00:07:30] Have different attitudes. And when we have a tendon laceration to the small finger, it can be really detrimental. And as of with all of them, but small fingers have their own cadence and have their own difficulties. So of course somebody comes in. pretty severe, very scarred down, really swollen, delayed and healing.
[00:07:51] And of course my mind is already like, you know, because of the years of experience that I have, because I've studied. And because I've seen these type of cases over and over and over, I've been able to say confidently, like, Hey, you know, with this type of injury, This is what we're looking for. You know, it comes in phases.
[00:08:11] We cannot make this really fast. This is the process that needs to happen. And if you want great results and you know, we'll work together, it requires your effort along with my effort to get the best possible results. And then I lay it out. I'm like, okay, this is what we need to do first. Gotta heal the, you know, we gotta heal the wound, make sure it closes completely.
[00:08:32] And then I've got to work on getting you passive range of motion. And of course simultaneously working on getting you active glide of those tendons. Now it's gonna be really frustrating. Oh, we have as hand therapists, we have to have these conversations with our people. you know, and you know what I'm looking for, what you should be looking for.
[00:08:54] And then also, you know, having that discussion of what it looks like. If I'm getting you [00:09:00] prepared for a second surgery, you don't have to make that decision right now, but I need to tell you about the consequences, right? So these are very. Specific skills. You know, and because we develop them as therapists, we develop you know, we study, we practice and we devote our, our career, our time to working with these people.
[00:09:20] We have an opportunity to work with these people with major life changes and, and really help them because we have these really specific skills. It ensures that we can work in a very particular setting. And I've, I've spoken to several, several therapists over the past several months. I mean, a lot of people are talking about how do you recession proof your, your career as a hand therapist, you know, how do you protect your job?
[00:09:48] Or I can, and, you know, these are the two things that, that most OTs, you know, in hand therapy are. Are are they're worried about, or are they worried about, they're worried about keeping their job, right. Job security or two getting a better job, right? Getting a better job when you have the opportunity to work.
[00:10:11] Or let me say that again, when you develop your skills, right? Not just your degree. Not getting another degree. When you develop your skills, it essentially can ensure your position at the current job that you're at. Right. It can [00:10:30] ensure it increases the opportunities that you have to work with a very particular, you know, population, people who are following this page, if you're, if you're an occupational therapist and certified I mean, if you're an occupational therapist and physical therapist and you're following hand therapy secret, I should introduced myself.
[00:10:46] My name is Wong. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist, and I help other therapists like you OTs and PTs master your skills in hand therapy so that you can become a certified hand therapist right now. I forgot to do that. at the beginning. So, but you know, most people who are coming and talking to me are not trying to.
[00:11:10] Continue working in the skilled nursing facility. They're not, they're not trying to continue working in acute care. They're not trying to work in pediatrics. The, the general, you know, pediatric population, most people who are following me here at hand therapy seeks, you know, want to develop their skills, correct me if I'm wrong.
[00:11:33] Tell me in the. Like, do you want to increase your skills in hand therapy? So that one day you can become a certified hand therapist. so that one day you can help more and more people with a very particular type of injury, which are hand in arm injuries. It can be hand, it can be risk, it could be elbow, it could be shoulder.
[00:11:54] Right. And you do need to know both surgical and nonsurgical though. [00:12:00] OTs UMTS are known. Surgical cases were also known for the complex cases. Right. But most people are coming in and they wanna become certified hand therapists because there is a sense of job security, career security. Right. And one of it is to keep your position to ensure that nobody is knocking you out and saying, Hey, you know, since we have less patience or less hours, why don't we.
[00:12:30] You know, Chuck you to the skilled nursing facility, why don't we Chuck you into a long term care facility, right? You wanna stay and you wanna be able to work with very particular people. The other thing is, you know, most therapists wanna become certified hand therapists also. So it gives them opportunities to get better physicians.
[00:12:47] I know I did. I know when I was you know, starting out as a hand therapist, I became a certified hand therapist around like five, five and a half year mark. But it took me a while back then it was five years. Took me a little while to just even get into the position. It took me four years of working an adult to get into an outpatient hand therapy position, or then allowed me to continue to study.
[00:13:11] I did say to myself that I would study. Regardless of the position, cuz I had the years I had the hours cuz working in acute care and working in a big trauma hospital allowed me to work with a lot of surgical cases. I just didn't keep them, so I couldn't follow the, the longevity of their improvements.
[00:13:29] Right. [00:13:30] But without the position was really hard. I mean, you know, without the position, without the pressure. without the accountability. Like I was talking to myself like I would study and I would never study. I would just put it off and put it off. Until I was under a lot of pressure. Right. Let's be honest.
[00:13:51] I didn't really study until I was under a lot of pressure. And then I was like, holy crap. I gotta study. There's no, you know, failing. So if you're in that boat and you want to recession proof your career in hand therapy, as we move into, you know, this recession that everyone's talking about, you know, everyone's talking, but like the, the world is talking about recession and the world's talking about Like what's going on in, in the economy and stuff like that.
[00:14:17] And, and healthcare is somewhat recession proof because at the end of the day, people do need, you know, therapy when they get hurt. Right. But people have a lot more choices and options than you give them credit for. There's this thing called YouTube. University. where people just going on there and just trying to figure out stuff themselves.
[00:14:45] Like if you're a therapist, you know, you're going on there and trying to figure things out all by yourself too. But at some point it's just not enough. And it takes a really, really long time. Right. So think [00:15:00] about your patients going there. It's taking them a long time and then they're not getting the results that they hope.
[00:15:05] Right. So if you're doing the same thing and studying and trying to do it on your own, and you find that you've been doing it for over a year and you're getting nowhere with it, it might be time for some help. It might be time for some, you know, joining into a program that can hold you accountable for showing up and doing the work that you need to do to study for the exam in a way.
[00:15:31] That helps you to understand concepts and not just about memorization, right. You get to keep your job when you help more and more people. Right. So I have a clinic. The, what you see behind you is I'm in my clinic today. I like to come in here sometimes and just get some work done catch up during the week.
[00:15:52] And then talk to other the. Especially since the hand exam prep program is currently open for enrollment right now, we're open until August 2nd. And then I get started and we're closing the program until November. Right? So I can tell you the one thing that when I'm talking to therapist no matter where I'm talking to them from number one, they want to ensure job security.
[00:16:21] Right. Job security can come from. I wanna keep my job or I wanna get a better job in job security. And how do we do that? We have job security when we can help [00:16:30] more and more patients in the way that we are skilled to do. Right. So how do you recession proof your career? You know, you recession proof your career.
[00:16:42] You're able to increase the opportunities that you. Create for yourself by increasing your skills. It's always gonna come down to skills. How do you increase your skills? You've gotta get that practice in. You've got to get that studying in. But really if you study for the certified hand therapy exam and you.
[00:17:04] Not just to, you know, I know there's different programs out there that, you know, you study all on your own and then you review stuff or you are taught by other students, or you might be in other programs where it's really so much about just memorizing. And here's why I teach differently. The reason why I teach more about concepts.
[00:17:29] I mean, there is a certain amount of memorization, right? Like hands down, there's a certain amount of it, but here's why I teach via concepts. The reason why I teach via concepts and improving your skills is because number one, you never know what kind of patients are coming into. You. Right. They're coming in.
[00:17:55] You might have a finger fracture. You might have a dis dis [00:18:00] radius fracture or whatever it is, but they don't all come in the same. They come in very differently. They come in various stages of their injury of their recovery. And we as therapists, we as the specialized therapists in order to be able to help them get results.
[00:18:21] In order to ensure our security, you know, in our career, we have to be able to help them. We have to be able to critically think through what do they need, when do they need it? And what are the consequences of what happens if they don't get what they need? You know, there's a timeline that we have to work through.
[00:18:38] So because we never know what kind of cases are coming in our way all the time. And people come in so differently, we have to be able to critically think through those and make help them make decisions about what they need to do, but help them make decisions about what they need to do so they can keep coming in to get the results that I know you have the capacity and the capability of helping them.
[00:19:01] right. That's number one, number one. It's because it, when you study for the exam, it allows you to be that much more skilled as a therapist, in terms of your critical thinking, in terms of making decisions about what they need and having conversations with people about what they need, whether it be the patient or the doctors or the case managers, adjusters, you can have conversations about like why they need what they need.
[00:19:24] Right. That's number one, because. I don't know of any OT that wants to be like [00:19:30] the worst OT, you know, the OTs that I work with and talk to and hear from, they always wanna be the best therapist. Cuz we, we came into this career because we care about people, right? Number two, the reason why I teach on concepts it's because you just never know what kind of questions that are coming your way on the exam.
[00:19:52] This exam. it's like no other exam you've taken. Right? It's like, no, there's a standard about it. Right? Standardized exam. I, one of the things I used to say is like, I'm really bad at standardized exams. And so I I'm trying to change how I say that. I don't like to say that I'm bad anymore. I am not naturally gifted, but I have the capability to.
[00:20:17] and that's what I've done. I, I didn't get through, you know, grads getting into grad school and, and all that good stuff. And then being able to pass my CHT exam by not being good. Right. It's not about being good or bad. It's just about doing the work based on your own skills based on your own ability. And we just need to recognize it.
[00:20:37] And when I work pretty well under a certain amount of pressure, right. But people who work under desperate measures never do well. They just like, it's just, it just never, like I've been doing this for three years through hand therapy seekers. I've been doing it longer from a personal [00:21:00] level. People who are desperate.
[00:21:01] Never do well. Think about your patients. The more desperate they are, the worse they. I use my flexor tendon guy as an example, when he's desperate and he's so anxious about getting his hand to return, he recruits all the wrong muscles. He recruits all the wrong muscles and he doesn't make those tendons glide.
[00:21:21] And I literally have to be like, you know, relax your shoulders. Let's do. In a way, like you literally half asing it. Right. I tell him to half ass, his therapy, like just a little bit. And it helps to mentally put him to focus where he needs to focus on. Right. And that's, you know, when, when you're studying, did I get off track?
[00:21:42] I think I got off when you're studying. You're too desperate. It just it's. It doesn't feel good, but you don't get great results, right. It doesn't feel good, but you don't get great results. So, The way that I teach in terms of understanding concepts is not just so you can be a better therapist, but it's so that you can be more mentally prepared for any kind of questions that come your way on the exam.
[00:22:11] The commission has a huge bank of questions that they use statisticians. To, you know, analyze the type of questions, the results and all that [00:22:30] good stuff. So we just never know what kind of questions are gonna be on the exam. You don't know if it's going to be more about hands or is it gonna be more about shoulders?
[00:22:40] You don't know, it's gonna have a ton of nerve questions on there, or it's gonna be more wrist. . I just knew that when I was studying for the exam, there were two areas that I was pretty weakened and it was wrist and it was nerves. Funny enough. I've spent. Time setting that those are actually now my stronger suits.
[00:23:01] Right. But back then, when I was studying for the exam, there were my, my weaker suits. And I just felt like there were so many fricking nerve questions on there. You know, like 15 years on like dad, there was so many nerve questions. Every single time I talk to somebody and I find out they're weak area.
[00:23:17] That's the area that they felt like they had so many questions on. . If you can focus, you only need 75. It's not percentage. It's not. It's just need a score of 75. It's not about being perfect. It's not about knowing everything it's about studying it away way that can help you be more confident. Be more self-assured have more.
[00:23:49] Self-belief. That you can answer any kind of question that comes your way and be able to problem solve it and make decisions. What is the best answer? [00:24:00] Right? What is the best answer in real life? We get to have a multiple chances. When we're working with someone to say, this is gonna work, you know, let's try for two weeks.
[00:24:09] If this doesn't work, then we're gonna move on to the next strategy. Right. My. Keep coming to this flex tendon cause it goes so well with the topic. I'm like, dude, I need extension. I need P I P extension in order to get better motion, you know, I could have splinted him. I could. Done a static one.
[00:24:36] I could have done a dynamic one. I could have, you know, I chose to cast him. These are our choices, these are the options that are available to me and to you. And I chose to plaster cast him, you know, in extension and we've seen great results. Do I have to keep talking to him every visit, like every visit to say why it's important to show the results that we've gotten and to teach him a little bit of patience because this is a process, right?
[00:25:11] It is a process that we're going through and I'm give, you know, and he's giving me another week. He's giving me, I'm like, we gotta do this for two weeks, maybe three. So, he's giving me another visit. To, to do this on in the exam, [00:25:30] it is not about what you do. It is not about what you do. It is about the, the story that they're sharing, the question, you gotta look at those questions and you gotta answer that particular question based on the scenario that they're giving and based on what would be the.
[00:25:52] Choice best answer based on that scenario, right. There's usually, you know, good answers, but one is the best based on that question. And when I, you know, when I teach in the hand exam prep program, I really do focus on concepts because you can take one concept and keep applying, keep applying and layer everything that you need to know as certified hand therapist.
[00:26:18] So it's not so much. Just about memorization so that you can go into the exam feeling more assured that you can pick the best answer, right? That's that's the whole point so that you can have more opportunities once you become, and let me say this, let me say this, that even those who are trying.
[00:26:47] Have more opportunity than those that don't try and give up. All right. Those that try. I have someone in my I've have had several people in the hand exam prep [00:27:00] program just by studying, just by saying, they're trying just by, you know, cracking, open the books and joining a program like the hand exam prep program to help them move from one stage to the next stage, have been able to apply for the new job that they want have been able to get better hours.
[00:27:20] So not only just keeping their job, but getting better. Right. Just in the sheer act of trying can, you know, get you ahead cuz there's so many people not trying that if you threw your hat in the ring that you're trying, like how great would that be? all right, how great would that be? So if you want to recession proof your career and work towards becoming a certified hand therapist now is the time the hand exam prep program is currently open until just for a few more days.
[00:28:00] It's open until August 2nd, August 2nd, I get started in the intensive portion of the program. So I'm gonna go for 12. We go for 12 weeks to help everyone who's currently in the program who just signed up for the program. Welcome. We're gonna get you ready for the November exam. And there's definitely people who just got started, who are going to they're just coming in, but they're gonna stay for the may exam.
[00:28:27] Let me get rid of that. So they're gonna save for the me [00:28:30] exam just because they know that they need more, they need more time to study. Right. So, so yeah. So if if you currently have the years and the hours, and it's been lingering on your mind for over two years, Right. If it's been lingering on your mind for the last two years, you need to study for the CHD exam, you know, and if it's been lingering on your mind for the last two years and you haven't yet done it now might be a great time for you to sign up for, you know, apply for the hand exam prep program.
[00:29:05] Just apply for it. Let's have a conversation to see if this program is right for you to help you study for it. If you have been studying on and off. and still haven't taken it. It's because you're lacking certain amount of accountability and support to keep you going. So you're committed. You want to do it?
[00:29:24] You have the books. Let's now wait so long that the books and the resources expire right. Maybe you just haven't you maybe said it on and off and you've just chickened down. Right now is the best time to join the hand exam prep program. Just apply for the program. Let's get on a call. Let's talk about it and see, you know, I have some questions to ensure that you're a right fit for the program.
[00:29:47] So I wanna work with people who are committed, just like my patients. Like when I, I don't just take. Anybody. I like to work with people who are committed [00:30:00] for the results that they say that they want. Right. So if I'm working with someone and they're just like, you know, coming in, you know, falling off my schedule or they're not committed, then they don't get the great results, you know, that they.
[00:30:16] Said that they wanted to have. So, you know, I'm looking for someone who's really committed. They're very serious about becoming a certified hand therapist. They have the resources and they want to study if I turn away people who are like my boss will pay for it, but I'm not really sure. Well, if your boss is gonna pay for your program, but you're not committed then You're you're just not gonna get the results that you want.
[00:30:42] And you're just not, you're just not gonna be dedicated to it. So I really wanna work with people who are dedicated to becoming a certified hand therapist. So if you have the years, you have the hours and you have the desire, but you've just been putting it off. Now. It's a great time to apply for the hand exam prep program before it closes down August 2nd.
[00:31:03] Right. If you took the exam and you failed, please consider taking it again. I know that not everyone passes the first time, but guess what? If you don't take it again, then you won't become a certified hand. And there's something about trying again and this time really just tweaking what you're doing based on your score.
[00:31:28] So, one thing that I do with people in my program [00:31:30] is I look at their score. We do a score audit, and we make sure we're putting our focus in the right place. Right. Making sure we put. Our focus, your focus in the right place, cuz if it's in the wrong place you won't get the results. Let's say my, my hand guy, if if they're constantly trying to work to get deflection, but they don't even have extension focus is wrong, right?
[00:31:58] The focus is wrong. Can't get great faster results. Doing the wrong. Right. So, so anyway, that is essentially how you recession proof your career as an occupational therapist, as a physical therapist in the hand therapy world, if you want to be the best and you want to have the opportunities to work with very particular types of cases especially complex surgical, you want to have the opportunity to work in outpatient.
[00:32:31] you want the opportunity to have more hours to ensure your position in this outpatient setting and to get promoted, make more money, and even one day opening your own business like I've done, then, you know, become a certified hand therapist and consider applying for the hand exam prep program, seeing if we're the right fit for you.
[00:32:53] All right. Let me know if you agree or disagree with this whole idea of. , it's not [00:33:00] about the degrees. Getting more degrees will not help you increase your skills, actively working to improve your skills, to be able to help somebody. with their problem is how we have longevity in our career. Not just more degrees.
[00:33:18] This is one of the reasons why I decided not to go back and get another degree in something else or be a doctor like that's not gonna being a doctor in OT. Wasn't really gonna help me do anything. , you know, in terms of how I wanted to grow my career, I wanted to grow my career, helping people with hand in arm injuries, whether it be postsurgical or nonsurgical.
[00:33:38] I wanted to open my own clinic. I wanted to grow my practice and I wanted to come and teach on my own platform in the way that I want the way that I want it to be taught, to improve my skills and not just be book. For no reason. . So anyway, let me know your opinion. Let me know in slide, if you're on Instagram, slide into my DM, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
[00:34:07] If you're watching on Facebook you can send me a message. If you're watching this on YouTube, send me an email or leave a comment below. All right. But definitely let me know your thoughts on this. You don't have to agree with me to leave your thoughts. You can leave your thoughts. I'm completely open to it.
[00:34:24] All right. All right. I will talk to you later, have a.
[00:34:28] Hey, thanks for listening to Hoang's [00:34:30] world podcast. If you are brand new to the hand therapy world, head over to my website, www . Hand therapy secrets.com, where you can get started with some of our free guides and paid programs for both OTs and PTs diving into the world of hand therapy. Or if you've been listening for a while watching on our YouTube channel and you think you could benefit from developing and moving your career further along in hand therapy, reach out to me and my team at info @ Hand therapy.secrets.com and tell us exactly what you're looking for, By the way, if you know someone who could benefit from today's show, please share.
