Acute Care Speech-Language Pathologist

About the role

Autonomously responsible for providing evaluation and treatment services for patients referred with speech, language, voice, cognitive-linguistic and/or swallowing disorders. Services are provided on an inpatient and outpatient basis. Additional responsibilities of an SLP II include independence in practice across multiple diagnostic groups and provision of clinical instruction to graduate students. We are unable to consider Clinical Fellows for this position.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate patients; determine appropriateness of referral, etiology and extent of the communication, swallowing or voice disorder; examination may include use of videofluoroscopic oropharyngeal swallowing evaluation, FEES, and/or videostroboscopic voice evaluation.
• Remain up to date with current evidenced based practice standards; meet requirements for annual continuing education.
• Interpret evaluation results and make appropriate recommendations for management and treatment.
• Develop appropriate goals and therapeutic program; identify diagnosis, prognosis and discuss plan of care in collaboration with patient, family, supports and medical team as appropriate.
• Act as a clinical resource to new staff or students in one content area.
• Provide therapy, implementing the plan of care using therapeutic procedures, equipment/devices, teaching interventions, with ongoing collaboration and referral to additional health care providers to achieve patient's goals and to optimize function.
• Re-evaluate patient status, review and modify the plan of care, as needed.
• Manage a defined caseload and perform all administrative responsibilities including but not limited to: data collection and record keeping (e.g., billing, face-time sheets), quality assurance/improvement activities, participation on all hospital and departmental committees as requested, and attendance at department meetings, in-services, journal club and case conference as required.
• Perform all teaching responsibilities including but not limited to: teaching patients and families, residents, nurses and other hospital staff; providing clinical instruction to graduate students; orienting support staff; preparing and presenting clinical in-services, and providing interdepartmental and external in-service educational lectures.

Requirements

• Master's degree in Communication Disorders or Speech-Language Pathology.
• Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist (required).
• Certificate of Clinical Competence - SLP (required).
• Basic Life Support certification (required).
• 1-3 years related work experience.
• The Certificate of Clinical Competence - SLP needs to be verified through www.Asha.org.
• Candidates who have submitted a complete and accepted application for licensure, and out-of-state licensed speech-language pathologists are expected to obtain Massachusetts license prior to their start date.
• Advanced skills with Microsoft applications which may include Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access and other web-based applications; may produce complex documents, perform analysis and maintain databases.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience in an acute care setting, including experience with patients on ventilators and/or with tracheotomy tubes.
• Previous experience in an outpatient voice clinic, including experience with trans-nasal endoscopy.

Competencies

• Decision Making: Ability to make decisions guided by general instructions and practices requiring some interpretation; may make recommendations for solving problems of moderate complexity and importance.
• Problem Solving: Ability to address problems that are varied, requiring analysis or interpretation of the situation using direct observation, knowledge and skills based on general precedents.
• Independence of Action: Ability to follow precedents and procedures; may set priorities and organize work within general guidelines; seeks assistance when confronted with difficult and/or unpredictable situations; work progress is monitored by supervisor/manager.
• Written Communications: Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in written English with internal and external customers.
• Oral Communications: Ability to comprehend and communicate complex verbal information in English to medical center staff, patients, families and external customers.
• Knowledge: Ability to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of concepts, practices and policies with the ability to use them in complex varied situations.
• Team Work: Ability to work collaboratively in small teams to improve the operations of immediate work group by offering ideas, identifying issues, and respecting team members.
• Customer Service: Ability to provide a high level of customer service to patients, visitors, staff and external customers in a professional, service-oriented, respectful manner using skills in active listening and problem solving; ability to remain calm in stressful situations.

Physical Nature of the Job

Medium work: Exerting up to 50 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 20 pounds of force frequently. Job is physical in nature and employee needs to stand and/or move around through the majority of their shift.

Pay

$42.12 - $58.98 per hour. Actual compensation is determined based on several factors, including seniority, education, training, relevant experience, relevant certifications, geography of work location, job responsibilities, or other applicable factors permissible by law. Compensation may exceed the base hourly rate depending on shift differentials, call pay, premium pay, overtime pay, and other additional pay practices, as applicable to the position and in accordance with the law.