The Third Assignment - Dallas/Garland, Texas

The Third Assignment Trail Guide

EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS! Our third travel assignment took us to experience the hot Texas summer. We took this assignment with CoreMedical Group, the travel agency company that we signed our first contract assignment with in Virginia. This time, we giddied up, grabbed our boots (well, we bought some once we got there), and headed to the Northeast region of Dallas-Fort Worth. We lived in Garland, Andrew worked in Murphy, and Alyssa worked in Wylie. Were both contracted to work at the same hospital-based outpatient clinics, just different locations. This time, we only took 2 weeks off in-between contracts in which Andrew went home for a few days, Alyssa chilled with her family at home, and then we set off on a 3 day road trip from Florida to Texas with a halfway pit stop in New Orleans for a few fun nights. This trail guide will take us from the beginning of our search and then wrap up with our experience.

The Search

We have always read to start looking for your next assignment between 6-8 weeks before your anticipated start date or start to look about 6 weeks before the end of your current assignment. So far, this is true and the majority of our recruiters recommend this strategy as well. This is exactly what we did. We briefly started to browse future options 7 weeks from the end of our contract. Halfway through your contract, your recruiters will begin to message you about getting ready to start the search. We did not start getting serious about our job search until 4-5 weeks out from the end of our contract. 1. This was due to contemplating on which travel agency we wanted to work more closely with. 2. Unsure of which area we wanted to be submitted for.

We knew we wanted to travel to Texas for our next assignment. Why? Because why not! We needed to obtain our Texas PT license first. More to follow on that below. Essentially, we started our Texas PT license around February 25th, which would have been around 6 weeks before our Florida assignment contract end date.

The last week of February 2024 is when we got serious about finding our next contract. We knew we wanted to go to Texas. We began to communicate more with our three recruiters from CoreMedical Group, AMN healthcare (formerly Med Travelers), and Fiber Staffing. We had them send us pairings in Texas, anywhere besides the Houston region (nothing against Houston). During the first week of March, we received the same contract opportunities from 2 of our recruiters, and we asked to be submitted with the recruiter who presented the opportunities first. Side note: Hold high moral standards when it comes to receiving offers from your recruiters. Do not pit them against each other or try to window shop for best offers. If 2 recruiters offer you the same position, go with the recruiter who provided you with the information first. These people work extremely hard for you.

We were submitted for positions on March 5th and received phone interviews by March 10th. The positions were at a hospital-based outpatient clinic in the DFW region, about 20-30 minutes Northeast of Dallas. Everything seemed like a great fit for us and the clinics. We both interviewed for the same Murphy clinic, because at the time, they had 2 openings they were offering. During our separate phone interviews, they said one of us would work in Murphy, and the other one would work in Wylie. Ultimately, Andrew worked in Murphy and Alyssa worked in Wylie. We actually accepted positions before Alyssa even talked to the Wylie clinic manager. Most of the time, this is not recommended, but we had a good gut feeling.

Accepting the Third Contract Assignment

We officially accepted our third contract assignments on March 14th. We accepted the positions with our recruiter from CoreMedical Group. We did some negotiating for this contract. Well, all we did was ask and our requests were approved. They wanted us to start April 15th, but we asked to be pushed to April 22nd. We negotiated some time off to take a trip back to Florida for a long weekend and Alyssa took a solo trip up to Oregon with her family. We asked for an increase in pay rate, and received about $50 more per week. Andrew was provided the privilege of creating his own schedule for the week, while Alyssa was given the same schedule as the therapist who would be training her. This was the quickest contract search and easiest to date. Our contract was slated for 13 weeks, from April 22nd to July 19th.

During our previous contract assignment searches, we searched the general area for housing, driving distances, and nearby gyms. For this assignment, we took a general glance at these items, but we did not look further into these prior to accepting due to the plentiful amount of housing and gym options in the DFW area.

We did not need to do any background checks or medical screenings for this contract. We were not required since our company did have our yearly physical and Tuberculosis blood test on file. We are not completely sure on why we did not need to complete a drug screen or a background check, requirements vary from contract to contract.

Finding Our Home #6 - Garland, Texas

Our Home #6 was a tiny single car garage converted into a studio style house located in Garland, Texas. We found this place on VRBO and we were able to negotiate our rent lower, and to the same price we have been paying for our other contract housing. It included a full bath, a washer and dryer, a full kitchen, a Murphy style bed, a loft, a smart TV, full utilities, and the best part, a private pool and hot tub! This studio was 10 feet from our landlord's house: a wonderful older couple who we chatted with on a weekly basis, free dog pets, and sometimes free baked goods! They also did our towel and linen laundry once a week for us.

Our Home #6 was a 5 minute walk to “The Square” of downtown Garland, which we would frequent every week. A 15 minute drive (8 miles) to our gym and a 20 minute drive (10 miles) to each of our clinics. The gym we signed up for was a commercial gym named Club4Fitness. This gym was a 2 minute drive for Andrew, and a 10 minute drive for Alyssa in the early mornings. We signed up for a basic monthly membership and canceled during the last month of our contract. We ended up spending $75 for a gym membership for 3 months a piece.

Home #6 was a big downsize on space for us compared to our Home #5 in Weirsdale, but not the smallest space we shared together. Somehow, we always find a place for all of our things!

More to come in a future post of all the things we did in DFW. Traffic is definitely yucky and the roads are whacky, but everything was 20-60 minutes in driving distance.

Our Contract Experience

We both had different experiences for this contract assignment. Overall, we both enjoyed the company and how they handled business. We were both required to see 55 patients a week and work a typical 40 hours. Andrew was able to create his own schedule within the clinic's hours, 7am to 7pm, while Alyssa was assigned the schedule of the therapist that would be training her. We were required to open 2 days and close 2 days, and both of us had half days on Friday. At these clinics, we scheduled our own patients, which was a first for us and we came to love. The documentation system was Net Therapy and there was definitely a big learning curve. Alyssa’s clinic had 4 other full-time PTs, while Andrew’s clinic had 2 full-time PTs, 1 full-time PRN PT that left half-way after a new-grad full-time PT started, and 1 part-time PRN PT.

Even though our clinics were owned by the same company, we experienced different things. Andrew’s caseload consisted mostly of 20-70 year olds, and Alyssa’s consisted of 50-80 year olds. Alyssa’s onboarding, training, and caseload was a gradual and steady process, while Andrew was thrown into the fire on day 1, with on the fly training and no onboarding.

At both of our clinics, PTs focused on a ton of STM, ranging from 10-30 minutes at times. While this may be a preference for some, we both take an active and therapeutic exercise approach. During Andrew’s first 6 weeks, his manager chatted with him to take more of a STM/manual approach to help diversify some charges and to build better patient rapport due to the claim of patient’s not showing up, opting for surgery, and reporting not getting better because of his approach/style. The manager made some claims and stated a few patient’s names. When Andrew looked into the notes from the names provided on his own time, Andrew found: 1. Andrew did not work with the patient at all, 2. One patient who opted for surgery was attending PT for 8 weeks and Andrew saw them one time for a progress note in which the patient reported they were going to see a surgeon the next day, and 3. Patient’s were attending PT 2-3 months with the previous traveler PT and other PTs, and were transferred to Andrew’s schedule, then no-showed after a visit or 2. This could be from changing to more exercise base vs 10-30 minute manual based.

After looking into this, Andrew did bring it up to the manager, but it was not fully acknowledged. After that incident, there were no other instances. This was the first time that we had any “misunderstandings” since we began our travel PT life and we are sure, this will not be the last. This was Andrew’s least favorite experience due to feeling more like a “job,” but enjoyed the overall experience and the company’s system of max of 2 patient’s per hour.

Texas License Process

To make this short and sweet. We applied for the Texas License through endorsement. We needed to complete a lengthy PT application through the Texas board of PT. Once completed, we needed to send our DPT transcripts, our NPTE board scores, our application payment, send in a passport quality photo, complete fingerprints at an IdentoGo, and take a 2 hour law exam from our personal computer’s at home. Overall, once you have all of the items completed, it took us less than 5 business days to receive our TX PT License. After all materials are submitted, it is an estimated 3-10 business days until you receive your license.

Best Wishes,

ATB & AJS