Physical Therapist – Acute Care

About the role

Vanderbilt Health is seeking an experienced Acute Care Physical Therapist to join one of the nation's leading academic health systems. This is an opportunity to practice at a Level 1 Trauma Center and the nation's largest transplant center by volume, working alongside nationally recognized physicians, nurses, and rehabilitation professionals while caring for some of healthcare's most medically complex patients.

Responsibilities

• Perform evidence-based evaluations and treatment interventions for hospitalized patients with complex medical and surgical diagnoses.
• Provide care across diverse inpatient settings, including intensive care units, specialty services, transplant, trauma, and step-down units.
• Develop individualized treatment plans that optimize mobility, function, safety, and discharge outcomes.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to deliver coordinated, patient-centered care.
• Apply advanced clinical reasoning to assess patient progress and modify treatment plans as clinical needs evolve.
• Educate patients and caregivers regarding mobility strategies, equipment recommendations, fall prevention, and safe discharge planning.
• Document care in accordance with hospital, regulatory, and professional standards.
• Support a culture of clinical excellence through mentorship, quality improvement, and professional development initiatives.

Qualifications

• Licensed Physical Therapist (or license-eligible) in the State of Tennessee.
• Acute care or hospital-based physical therapy experience strongly preferred.
• Strong clinical reasoning and decision-making abilities.
• Excellent communication and interdisciplinary collaboration skills.
• Commitment to compassionate, patient-centered care.
• Passion for continuous learning and professional growth.

Technical Capabilities

• Treatment Planning & Goal Setting: 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.
• Patient Evaluation: 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: 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 if goals are not met. May supervise and direct certified athletic trainers (PT only), physical therapist/occupational therapist assistants, technicians, volunteers, and students. Selects and follows correct protocol for care and utilizes evidence-based treatments. Has completed at least one year of clinical experience in treatment implementation.
• Patient Documentation: 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.
• Patient Education: 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.