My New Jersey Physical Therapist license

S: When I decided I wanted to go to the east coast to work for the summer, I asked both my travel companies to see if they could find me a job. One company, Medical Connections, did not have a licensing department. The other company, MedTravelers, had a licensing department. Medical Connections found me a job in New Jersey, I interviewed for it and got the job. I started the process of applying for the license in May. It is now October and I just got my letter saying I had been approved to get a license and would receive one in 3-4 weeks. Needless to say, I didn't realize it would take this long to get the license. Contrast that with the Connecticut license which took about 3 weeks to get and was paid for by my travel company. Still there are a lot of jobs in New Jersey and it is much closer to New York City. Read on if you want to know the steps to getting a New Jersey license.

O: First, if you have a company that will do it for you , then by all means let them deal with it. Since I was under a time crunch, MedTraveler's licensing department told me they wouldn't even try to get me the license. It would take at least 6 months. So plan ahead for this license.
Here are the steps:

• Contact the New Jersey office of the Attorney General to get your application snail mailed to you. This state doesn't have an online application.
• Fill out the application, pay $125, and mail back with all the required documentation (passport picture ($10 at Walgreens), a photocopy of all your current licenses, your answers on a scantron to the New Jersey open book jurisprudence exam, and an affidavit with the seal of a notary of the public (free at your local bank if you have an account). Make copies of everything and mail all that to New Jersey. I make copies because sometimes the state will say I didn't send things, but I have proof that I did.
  
• On the Internet you will need to have your official transcripts sent from your Physical Therapy school directly to New Jersey. You can do this online through the student clearinghouse or call the registrar's office. This cost me $4.25. I went to LSU in New Orleans and even though Katrina flooded the school, my transcripts were still available online.
• Snail mail verification of all your state licenses to each state you hold a license in and pay for that ($15 for Michigan and $30 for California)
• Once New Jersey is satisfied with your information and you passed the test, they will mail you the information for having a background check done. I was already on assignment in Connecticut when this came in the mail and had to have my husband mail it to me. I had to be fingerprinted ($10 at the local police station) using the enclosed fingerprinting card and pay New Jersey $67 to allow those finger prints to be converted to a digital format.
• So now it is five months later and I just got notification that once I send in $110 and I pass my background check, I will have my New Jersey PT license.

A: I'm pleased to be on the final step of the process, but am in no hurry to complete the process. I will probably not need the license until summer of next year. It is good for 2 years and usually the application is good for 6 months before I have to start over.

P: My plan is to send in my final check in the beginning of the new year. Once I start a job there with Medical Connections they will reimburse me for the cost of everything.

Home

S: We drove 731 miles from Hamden, CT to Oxford, MI. The drive was lovely on the eastern side of the Berkshires. The leaves on the trees were red, yellow, pink, green and orange. It looked like a painting of a flowing carpet along the interstate.

O: It took us 13 hours to drive home. The route we took was through Canada and over the Peace Bridge in Buffalo. That is faster than taking the Niagara Falls bridge. We only waited 15 minutes to cross the border, but it was after midnight on a Monday morning too.

A: I was glad we had enough cash to pay all the tolls. It cost around $20 in tolls and bridge crossings. I should have saved my Canadian change to give to them at the border, but I'm never that organized.

P: I start a local job tomorrow. It will be nice to get back into a routine.

Yale and Phantom of the Opera

S: I finished my assignment at Griffin Hospital in Derby, CT. I had a great assignment and will miss my coworkers. On my last day, they gave me a delicious pot luck lunch and a present with our group picture .

O: Besides working my assignment I was able to tour some local sites. We went to the Big E or the Eastern States Exposition. It is an annual event in Massachusetts. We also went to tour the campus of Yale and ate at the famous Pepe's pizza. I tried the clam pizza, but won't miss it when I return to the Midwest! Yesterday we went to New York City to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater. It was fantastic and I can see why it is still going strong after 20 years. It was a full house on a Thursday night so I guess it will still be showing for years to come.

A: I enjoyed being on assignment in Connecticut and getting to know the people of New England. All of our touring has been fun and I'd recommend an assignment here to anyone in the future.

P: Tomorrow we plan to go on a New England fall color tour on a historic train ride. We'll be leaving to go back to Michigan on Sunday.

Travel assignment almost over

S: I'm on my 11th week and have 2 more weeks to go in Connecticut. I found this to be an awesome state to work in. Getting my PT license was a breeze. The location is close to New York City and allowed me to take the Metro-North train into Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The picture above is Times Square.
My coworkers love their state of Connecticut so one took me on a boat ride around the Thimble Islands. The picture on the right is of a Thimble Island home at low tide. Could you live there?

O: When I travel as a PT, I have goals (of course!) and I feel that I've accomplished most of what I wanted to do. I helped the facility that had a backlog of patients waiting for therapy, I shared my knowledge of Kinesio tape, and I learned about the New England way of life. Before I leave, I still need to share the area with my husband and son, I want to visit a graveyard (Boo!), buy souvenirs for my friends, and take a train tour.

A: I'm feeling that I like being a health care traveler. I'll be glad to get home though. My friends keep saying "Where are you now? When are you going to stay put?"

P: I'm planning to stay put in Michigan for the winter-Brrrr! It's Michigan cuddle alert time!

Coast to coast

S: I'm on the East coast in Connecticut working a PT job at Griffin Hospital. I had been in California working near Monterey.

O: The good thing about traveling as a PT is getting to visit family, friends, and see the country. My husband and I drove to CA. in March and went to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. On our return trip in June we went to Yellowstone. Now that I'm close to New York, we've been to NYC several times. We spent one weekend in Boston.

A: I'll finish this assignment at the end of September, but housing will be provided until 10/4. I plan to tour locally since I'll have housing.

P: I plan on returning to Michigan where I'll be co-teaching PT 800 at Oakland University.

I passed!

S: I'm so happy! I found out a couple of days ago that I passed the CA. jurisprudence exam.
My recruiter called to tell me. I checked online to confirm that she was right and my name now appears as having a valid CA. license.

O: My recruiter wants to know what jobs I want to apply for. I'm looking at San Jose, Salinas, and Monterey.

A: I'm so relieved that I passed. I studied really hard for the test. It is funny that the CA. exam was so hard and the MI exam is an open book exam!

P: I'm still in school (last semester for my DScPT), so I have to go study for my Advanced Differential Diagnosis exam that is tomorrow.

California law exam for physical therapists

S: I've been studying for the CLE and I retook it today.
O: I studied all the right material this time! The link above of FAQ was helpful. Make sure you study the Penal Code also.
A: I think I only missed 2 questions. I can miss 10 and pass.
P: I'll know in 2 weeks if I passed. Keeping my fingers crossed!