Occupational Therapist – Acute Care Inpatient

Vanderbilt University Medical Center•Nashville, TN

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research. Organization: Acute Rehab PT/OT 3 Job Summary: JOB SUMMARY Provides occupational therapy services to patients who have impairments, developmental disabilities, functional limitations, disabilities, or changes in physical function and health status resulting from injury, disease or other causes with some guidance. Actively collaborates with the health care/educational team to meet patient care, outcomes and system improvement objectives. . Occupational Therapist – Acute Care Inpatient Location: Vanderbilt Health | Nashville, TN Job Type: Full-Time | Hospital-Based Occupational Therapy Advance Your Occupational Therapy Career at Vanderbilt Health Are you an Occupational Therapist with acute care or inpatient hospital experience looking to advance your career in a nationally recognized academic medical center? Vanderbilt Health is seeking a Full-Time Occupational Therapist – Acute Care Inpatient to join our hospital-based rehabilitation team in Nashville, Tennessee. As home to Middle Tennessee’s largest Level 1 Trauma Center, Vanderbilt Health offers exceptional clinical exposure and the opportunity to work with a diverse patient population across ICUs, surgical units, medical floors, and the emergency department. This role is ideal for Occupational Therapists who thrive in fast-paced inpatient environments and value interdisciplinary collaboration and professional growth. Why Choose Vanderbilt Health? • Day-One Benefits including medical, dental, vision, and retirement plans • Clinical Career Advancement Ladder with structured growth from Occupational Therapist Level 1 through Level 4 • Free Continuing Education through department-hosted CE courses for all rehabilitation staff • Comprehensive Orientation Program with 10–12 weeks of onboarding across inpatient hospital units • Formal Mentorship Program supported by a dedicated Mentorship Committee for new graduates and experienced hires • Collaborative, Team-Based Culture with opportunities to participate in committees and quality initiatives • Nationally Recognized Employer and Magnet-designated hospital known for excellence in patient-centered care Your Impact as an Acute Care Occupational Therapist • Provide evidence-based occupational therapy evaluations and interventions for hospitalized patients • Deliver care across a variety of acute care inpatient units, including ICUs, surgical floors, and emergency services • Collaborate with physicians, nurses, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and care teams to develop individualized plans of care • Educate patients and caregivers on adaptive strategies, functional independence, and safe discharge planning • Document care, outcomes, and progress in compliance with hospital policies and regulatory standards • Participate in mentorship, quality improvement initiatives, and departmental projects Qualifications • Licensed Occupational Therapist or eligible for licensure in the state of Tennessee • Minimum of one year of acute care or inpatient hospital experience preferred • Strong communication skills and a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and patient-centered care Ready to Advance Your OT Career? Apply today for the Occupational Therapist – Acute Care Inpatient position at Vanderbilt Health in Nashville, TN. Join a nationally recognized academic medical center where your expertise is valued, your professional growth is supported, and your work makes a meaningful impact every day. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES • Analyzes comprehensive information from formal and informal assessment that is pertinent to the patient's care and management to determine a rehabilitation treatment diagnosis. • Collaborates with stakeholders in establishing the plan of care, coordinates and implements care delivery while anticipating patient care needs across the rehabilitation continuum. • Applies appropriate, evidence-based interventions to ensure effective outcomes and re-evaluates performance to assess patient's progress towards goals. • Employs strategies to promote successful return to home, community, and school/vocational environments. • The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned. TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES • Rehabilitation Therapist Patient Evaluation (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in evaluating patients with physical deficits including impairments, developmental disabilities, functional limitations, disabilities, or changes in physical function by obtaining information pertinent to the assessment and administering and scoring standardized tests and objective measures of deficit areas. Selects appropriate measures and performs a functional assessment to document patient's status requiring skilled therapy. Interprets the results of the assessment and their significance to the patient, family, referring physician and other members of the health care team. • Treatment Implementation (Fundamental Awareness): Demonstrates proficiency in providing treatment consistent with physician prescription and established plan of care. Able to modify treatment plan as needed to demonstrate provision of skilled therapy services including progression of treatment throughout course of care, and revision of treatment interventions of goals not met. May supervise and direct certified athletic trainers (PT only), physical therapist / occupational therapist assistants, technicians and volunteers and students. Selects and follows correct protocol for care and utilize evidence based treatments. • Treatment Planning & Goal Setting (Novice): Demonstrates sufficient proficiency in developing a plan of care that incorporates treatment interventions focused on meeting objective goals. Develops and documents patient focused short and long term goals that are functional and measurable. Identifies the need for and referral to other services, as needed. • Rehab Therapist Patient Documentation (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in documentation practices. Documents in the appropriate templates and utilizes only approved abbreviations within patient documentation. Meets institutional standards for quality and timeliness of documentation. • Physical/Occupational Therapist Patient Education (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in communicating functional impact of assessment findings, treatment interventions, treatment planning diagnosis, and disease process. Considers the communication needs/level of understanding of audience and may share appropriate information/literature. May supervise, educate and train students from professional programs of physical therapy, occupational therapy and athletic training. Allied health is among the fastest growing occupations in healthcare today. This area can be defined as credentialed professionals who perform supportive, diagnostic, and therapeutic health care services to promote health and prevent disease in a variety of settings. These areas are crucial to Vanderbilt Health’s reputation for excellence in these areas that has made us a major center for patient referrals from throughout the Mid-South. Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the southeast choose Vanderbilt Health for their health care because of our leadership in medical science and our dedication to treating patients with dignity and compassion. Core Accountabilities: Organizational Impact: Delivers job responsibilities that impact own job area/team with some guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Uses existing procedures, research and analysis to solve standard job related problems that may require some judgement. Breadth of Knowledge: Requires subject matter knowledge within a professional area to meet job requirements. Team Interaction: Individually contributes to project/ work teams. Core Capabilities : Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Continuously improves own skills by identifying development opportunities.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Seeks to understand colleagues priorities, working styles and develops relationships across areas. - Communicates Effectively: Openly shares information with others and communicates in a clear and courteous manner. Delivering Excellent Services: - Serves Others with Compassion: Invests time to understand the problems, needs of others and how to provide excellent service. - Solves Complex Problems: Seeks to understand issues, solves routine problems, and raises proper concerns to supervisors in a timely manner. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Listens carefully to understand the issues and provides accurate information and support. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Checks work quality before delivery and asks relevant questions to meet quality standards.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Shows eagerness to learn new knowledge, technologies, tools or systems and displays willingness to go above and beyond. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Demonstrates basic knowledge of conditions that affect safety and reports unsafe conditions to the appropriate person or department. Managing Resources Effectively :- Demonstrates Accountability: Takes responsibility for completing assigned activities and thinks beyond standard approaches to provide high-quality work/service. - Stewards Organizational Resources: Displays understanding of how personal actions will impact departmental resources. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Uses accurate information and good decision making to consistently achieve results on time and without error. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Willingly proposes/accepts ideas or initiatives that will impact day-to-day operations by offering suggestions to enhance them.- Applies Technology: Absorbs new technology quickly; understands when to utilize the appropriate tools and procedures to ensure proper course of action. - Adapts to Change: Embraces changes by keeping an open mind to changing plans and incorporates change instructions into own area of work. Position Qualifications: Responsibilities: Certifications: LIC-Occupational Therapy License - Licensure-Others Work Experience: Relevant Work Experience Experience Level : Less than 1 year Education: Doctorate (Required) Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. EOE/Vets/Disabled. PEOPLE ARE AT THE HEART OF ALL WE DO. Our vision: The world leader in advancing personalized health. Our mission: personalizing the patient experience through our caring spirit and distinctive capabilities. Making Health Care Personal. We’re looking for like-minded individuals driven to make a difference. We invite you to explore careers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. At VUMC, we place a priority on designing with and for our patients and families. We value collaboration, embrace continuous learning and discovery, and seek to be a place where everyone has the chance to thrive. We’re the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee, with a growing team and expanding footprint in towns and communities across the region. We employ more than 28,000 people who work in inpatient and outpatient clinical care, research, and graduate medical education as well as critical supporting roles in administration, information technology and informatics, finance, legal and community affairs, communications and marketing, fund-raising, groundskeeping and facilities, and many more. Our growing health system has more than 1,700 licensed hospital beds at: Vanderbilt University Hospital Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital It’s also home to hundreds of outpatient clinic and surgical locations throughout the region. We serve our community with many unique and specialized services including the Level 1 Trauma Center, a highly experienced Transplant Center that does the most heart transplants in the world, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Lung Institute, Burn Center and many more. World-leading academic departments and centers make scientific discoveries, advance clinical care and train the next generation of health care professionals. Our robust research enterprise consistently ranks among the highest in the country as measured by peer-reviewed grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. We’re honored to be consistently considered among the nation’s best hospitals, including being nationally ranked in multiple medical specialties for treating the most complex conditions in adults and children by US News and World Report. Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt ranked as the No. 1 children’s hospital in the southeast in 2024. We support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at VUMC for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose. Join us in Making Health Care Personal.

Requirements

Licensed Occupational Therapist or eligible for licensure in the state of Tennessee
Minimum of one year of acute care or inpatient hospital experience preferred
Strong communication skills and a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and patient-centered care
Doctorate (Required)

Responsibilities

Analyzes comprehensive information from formal and informal assessment that is pertinent to the patient's care and management to determine a rehabilitation treatment diagnosis.
Collaborates with stakeholders in establishing the plan of care, coordinates and implements care delivery while anticipating patient care needs across the rehabilitation continuum.
Applies appropriate, evidence-based interventions to ensure effective outcomes and re-evaluates performance to assess patient's progress towards goals.
Employs strategies to promote successful return to home, community, and school/vocational environments.

Benefits

Day-One Benefits including medical, dental, vision, and retirement plans
Clinical Career Advancement Ladder with structured growth from Occupational Therapist Level 1 through Level 4
Free Continuing Education through department-hosted CE courses for all rehabilitation staff
Comprehensive Orientation Program with 10–12 weeks of onboarding across inpatient hospital units
Formal Mentorship Program supported by a dedicated Mentorship Committee for new graduates and experienced hires
Collaborative, Team-Based Culture with opportunities to participate in committees and quality initiatives
Nationally Recognized Employer and Magnet-designated hospital known for excellence in patient-centered care

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