Occupational Therapist (PT) Acute Care TempForce

Montgomery College; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 55,000 - 69,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanderbilt Health is seeking an experienced Acute Care Occupational Therapist for a 13‑week TempForce assignment in Nashville. You will support a premier Acute Care Rehabilitation program, collaborating with physicians, nurses, and therapists to maximize patient independence during hospitalization and beyond.

The role requires a Tennessee OT license or eligibility, current BLS, at least two years of OT experience, and a minimum of one year in Adult Acute Care.

Qualifications

• Tennessee OT license or eligibility for licensure.
• Current BLS certification.
• Minimum two years of Occupational Therapy experience.
• At least one year of recent Adult Acute Care experience.

Responsibilities

• Analyzes comprehensive information from assessments to determine a rehab plan.
• Collaborates with physicians, nurses, and rehab team to implement plan of care.
• Applies evidence-based interventions to achieve patient goals and re-evaluates progress.
• Promotes safe return to home, community, and school/vocational environments.
• Note: duties may include additional responsibilities as needed.

Skills

OT licensure

BLS

Adult acute care

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree: Occupational Therapy

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.

Acute Care Occupational Therapist Opportunity at a Leading Academic Medical Center

Are you an experienced Occupational Therapist (OT) seeking a high-impact acute care opportunity in a nationally recognized academic medical center? Join Vanderbilt Health TempForce for a 13‑week assignment supporting one of the country's premier Acute Care Rehabilitation programs. This position offers competitive compensation, valuable hospital experience, a streamlined hiring process, and the opportunity to work with highly complex medical and surgical patient populations. As an Acute Care Occupational Therapist, you will collaborate with physicians, nurses, physical therapists, speech‑language pathologists, case managers, and rehabilitation specialists to help patients maximize independence, improve safety, and achieve functional goals during hospitalization and beyond.

Why Vanderbilt Health?

• Nationally recognized LevelI Trauma Center
• One of the nation's largest and busiest transplant programs
• Advanced specialties including critical care, neurosciences, cardiovascular medicine, surgery, and specialty medicine
• An Acute Care Rehabilitation team of approximately130 rehabilitation professionals
• A collaborative culture that empowers therapists to practice at the top of their license

Position Details

13‑week TempForce assignment

Full‑time schedule, 40hours per week

Five 8‑hour day shifts

30‑minute meal break

Schedule determined by department needs

Weekend requirements negotiable

Potential extension opportunities for up to one year

Opportunity to transition into a permanent Vanderbilt Health position

What You’ll Need

• Tennessee Occupational Therapist license or eligibility for licensure
• Current BLS certification
• Minimum two years of Occupational Therapy experience
• At least one year of recent Adult Acute Care experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Two or more years of Adult Acute Care experience in a LevelI Trauma Center
• Experience treating medically complex, surgical, ICU, transplant, and progressive care patient populations
• Experience with discharge planning, ADL retraining, cognitive assessment, and functional mobility interventions

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

• 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.
• 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.

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.

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.

Perform 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.

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.

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: Occupational Therapy (Required)

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.

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. 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 Level1 Trauma Center and Burn Center for adults and children, and Middle Tennessee’s only LevelIV 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 $1billion 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. Three of our hospitals — Vanderbilt University Hospital, Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital — have been awarded a Five‑Star Quality Rating from Medicare. 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