Occupational Therapist (OT) Acute Care

Montgomery College; Clarksville (TN); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital is seeking an Occupational Therapist to join our collaborative inpatient rehabilitation team. This role is approximately 90% Acute Care and 10% Inpatient Rehabilitation, serving adult patients across hospital settings.

You will help patients regain independence, improve function, and prepare for safe discharge through evidence‑based, patient‑centered care. Collaboration with physicians, nurses, therapists, and case managers is essential.

Qualifications

• Must be a graduate of an accredited Occupational Therapy program.
• Current Tennessee OT license or eligibility for licensure.
• BLS certification or ability to obtain within required timeframe.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate patients and develop individualized treatment plans.
• Provide interventions focused on activities of daily living, cognition, and upper extremity function.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to support patient recovery and discharge planning.
• Educate patients and caregivers on adaptive strategies and equipment.
• Maintain timely and accurate documentation per hospital standards.

Skills

Clinical reasoning

Communication

Teamwork

Documentation

Education

Graduate of an accredited Occupational Therapy program

Tennessee OT license or eligibility

BLS certification

Job description

Discover Vanderbilt Health

With eight hospitals and over 180 clinics, we are the region’s largest comprehensive academic health system. Vanderbilt Health has a long tradition of providing world‑class care to the people of the Mid‑South, living out our mission of moving medicine forward through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research. Here you’ll find a spirit of collaboration and a supportive community where your expertise is valued, your knowledge expanded and your uniqueness celebrated. We are committed to fostering an environment where talented, compassionate people are united in bringing the most advanced care to our neighbors throughout the region.

Organization: VCH Occupational Therapy

Job Summary: Organizes, plans and conducts the therapeutic activities program.

Location and Working Hours

Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital, Clarksville, TN
Full‑Time | 40 Hours/Week
Weekend Requirement: One Saturday or Sunday per month

Job Description

Join Our Acute Care Rehabilitation Team Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital is seeking an Occupational Therapist to join our collaborative inpatient rehabilitation team. This role is approximately 90% Acute Care and 10% Inpatient Rehabilitation, serving adult patients across a variety of hospital settings. As an Occupational Therapist, you will help patients regain independence, improve function, and prepare for safe discharge through evidence‑based, patient‑centered care. You’ll work closely with physicians, nurses, physical therapists, speech‑language pathologists, and case managers to support optimal outcomes.

Patient Population

• Medical‑Surgical Units
• Progressive Care/Step‑Down Units
• Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
• Orthopedic and General Surgery Patients
• Medically Complex Adult Populations
• Inpatient Rehabilitation
• Responsibilities Evaluate patients and develop individualized treatment plans.
• Provide interventions focused on activities of daily living, cognition, upper extremity function, safety, and functional independence.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to support patient recovery and discharge planning.
• Educate patients and caregivers on adaptive strategies and equipment recommendations.
• Maintain timely and accurate documentation in accordance with hospital standards.

Why Vanderbilt Clarksville?

• Diverse acute care caseload with medically complex patients.
• Supportive interdisciplinary team environment.
• Typical productivity expectations of approximately 10 patients per day in Acute Care and 3‑4 patients per day in Inpatient Rehabilitation.
• Opportunities for professional growth and continuing education through Vanderbilt Health.
• Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits package.

Qualifications

• Graduate of an accredited Occupational Therapy program.
• Current Tennessee Occupational Therapist license or eligibility for licensure.
• Current BLS certification or ability to obtain within the required timeframe.
• Preferred Acute care or hospital‑based Occupational Therapy experience.
• Strong clinical reasoning, communication, and teamwork skills.

Key Responsibilities

• Provides activity therapy assessments and occupational therapy assessments, written treatment and discharge plans.
• Attends and participates in designated treatment team meetings.
• Plans and conducts daily activity therapy group sessions and programs, with individual therapy sessions as needed.
• Completes appropriate documentation.
• Participates in program Performance Improvement process.

Technical Capabilities

• Physical/Occupational Therapist Patient Education (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery in communicating functional impact of assessment findings, treatment interventions, treatment planning diagnosis, and disease process. Able to adapt communication to needs/level of understanding of audience and share appropriate information/literature. May supervise, educate and train students from professional programs of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and athletic training and/or students and staff from other departments. Contributes in the development of patient education best practices for the organization.
• Rehab Therapist Patient Documentation (Intermediate): 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. May complete accurate chart audits of co‑workers in the same classification category.
• Rehabilitation Therapist Patient Evaluation (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery 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. Demonstrates experience in clinical evaluation skills and may serve as a mentor for other clinical staff to develop their skills in evaluation techniques. Contributes to the development of best practices for the organization. May consult with team members to implement new procedures.
• Treatment Implementation (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery 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. Supervises and directs certified athletic trainers (PT only), physical therapist / occupational therapist assistants, technicians and volunteers and students. Selects and follows correct protocol for care, as established, and actively seek out, utilize and mentor/teach others on current evidence based treatment strategies. May consult with team members to offer suggestions for treatment strategies. May serve as a clinical content expert for practice area, initiates consultation with team members for advanced treatment of patients, develop forum for staff members to utilize clinical expertise.
• Treatment Planning & Goal Setting (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery 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. May serve as a mentor for other clinical staff to develop their skills in treatment planning. May consult with team members or implement new procedures.

Core Accountabilities

• Organizational Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance.
• Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment.
• Breadth of Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area.
• Team Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.
• Supporting Colleagues: Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas. Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships. Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences.
• Delivering Excellent Services: Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them. Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions. Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness.
• Ensuring High Quality: Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly. Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring.
• Managing Resources Effectively: Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure. Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area. Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities.
• Fostering Innovation: Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches. Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges. Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications

• Responsibilities: Certifications: LIC-Occupational Therapy License - Licensure‑Others Work Experience: Relevant Work Experience Experience Level : Less than 1 year Education: Bachelor's
• This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well‑being and professional growth.

Equal Opportunity Statement

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.

Company Culture

Great health care takes great people. We’re looking for like‑minded individuals driven to make a difference. We invite you to explore careers at Vanderbilt Health, where we value collaboration, embrace continuous learning and foster an environment where everyone can thrive. We’re the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee, with a growing team and an expanding footprint across towns and communities throughout the region. We employ more than 43,000 people who work in inpatient and outpatient clinical care, research and graduate medical education. Our employees also serve in critical supporting roles in administration, information technology and informatics, finance, legal and community affairs, communications and marketing, fundraising, groundskeeping and facilities, and many other departments.

Our growing academic health system has more than 2,100 licensed hospital beds at eight hospitals: Vanderbilt University Hospital, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital, Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital, Vanderbilt Tullahoma‑Harton Hospital, Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital. Vanderbilt Health is the Mid‑South's largest provider of specialty care, with hundreds of outpatient clinic and surgical locations throughout the region, and Tennessee’s only National Cancer Institute‑designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for adults and children. We are one of the nation's busiest critical care centers, home to Middle Tennessee’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Burn Center for adults and children, and Middle Tennessee’s only Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We are the nation’s largest transplant center, and last year we performed the most heart transplants than any center worldwide. Vanderbilt Health is an epicenter for biomedical research, winning over $1 billion in annual research awards from government, industry, foundations and donors. We are also a national leader in medical training and education, with the largest clinical training center in the Mid‑South and the only training center in Tennessee for many adult and pediatric specialties. We’re honored to be consistently considered among the nation’s best hospitals for quality, safety and patient satisfaction.

We support each other and encourage excellence among every member of our workforce. High‑achieving employees stay at Vanderbilt Health for professional growth opportunities, competitive compensation and benefits, and a sense of community and purpose.

Join us in advancing health care.

Our vision: The world leader in advancing personalized health Our mission: Personalizing the patient experience through our caring spirit and distinctive capabilities.