Physical Therapist - Outpatient Orthopedic Rehabilitation

Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt University Medical Center operates at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care. It is a community where expertise is valued, knowledge expanded, and abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and uniqueness is celebrated.

About The Role

In this outpatient orthopedic setting, you'll evaluate and treat a diverse adult patient population ranging from young adults to older adults with a variety of orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions:

• Post-operative orthopedic conditions
• Pre-operative and post-operative orthopedic rehabilitation
• Back and neck pain
• Joint pain and dysfunction
• Upper and lower extremity injuries
• Acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions
• Sports and activity-related injuries

Our therapists deliver comprehensive care focused on restoring function, improving movement, and helping patients achieve their personal goals.

What Makes This Opportunity Different?

• One-on-One Patient Care
• 30-Minute Treatment Sessions
• Dedicated Documentation Time
• Clinical Career Ladder (Level I-IV)
• Specialty Development Opportunities
• Mentorship and Professional Growth
• Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team
• Day-One Benefits
• Nationally Recognized Health System

Responsibilities

• Provide evidence-based physical therapy evaluations and treatments for orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions.
• Develop individualized treatment plans that support optimal patient outcomes.
• Collaborate with physicians, advanced practice providers, and rehabilitation professionals.
• Educate patients on injury prevention, recovery strategies, and long-term wellness.
• Maintain accurate and timely clinical documentation.
• Participate in quality improvement initiatives and departmental programs.
• Contribute to a culture of learning by supporting students, residents, and fellow team members.
• Analyze comprehensive information from formal and informal assessment pertinent to the patient's care and management to determine a rehabilitation treatment diagnosis.
• Collaborate with stakeholders in establishing the plan of care, coordinate and implement care delivery while anticipating patient care needs across the rehabilitation continuum.
• Apply appropriate, evidence-based interventions to ensure effective outcomes and re-evaluate performance to assess patient's progress towards goals.
• Employ strategies to promote successful return to home, community, and school/vocational environments.

Technical Capabilities

• 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.
• 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 (Novice): 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 or goals 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.
• 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.

Qualifications

• Current Tennessee Physical Therapy license required.
• Passion for orthopedic rehabilitation, outpatient physical therapy, and evidence-based patient care.
• Strong communication, clinical reasoning, and interpersonal skills.
• Commitment to evidence-based practice and exceptional patient care.
• Experienced clinicians preferred but new graduates are encouraged to apply.

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.

Core Capabilities

Supporting Colleagues:

• Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance 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:

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage Starting Day One
• Competitive PTO and Holiday Benefits
• Retirement Savings Programs
• Tuition Assistance and Professional Development Support
• Clinical Career Advancement Ladder
• Opportunities for Specialty Certification and Growth
• Employee Wellness Programs

Schedule

Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-5:30 PM

Full-Time (2 Openings)

No Weekends or Holidays