Physical Therapist (PT) PRN - Pediatric Acute Care

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:

MCJCHV Peds Rehab

Job Summary:

JOB SUMMARY
Provides physical therapy services to patients who have impairments, functional limitations, disabilities, or changes in physical function and health status resulting from injury, disease or other causes under occasional guidance. Actively collaborates with the health care/educational team to meet patient care, outcomes and system improvement objectives.

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Physical Therapist (PT) PRN - Pediatric Acute Care

Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt

PRN | Weekdays & Occasional Weekends | 8 or 10-Hour Shifts

Join Vanderbilt's Pediatric Acute Care Team

Vanderbilt Health is seeking an experienced Pediatric Physical Therapist to join the acute care therapy team at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.

This PRN opportunity is ideal for therapists who enjoy practicing in a fast-paced children's hospital environment while caring for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with complex medical needs.

At Vanderbilt, Physical Therapists are valued members of the interdisciplinary care team and play an essential role in helping patients improve mobility, maximize function, achieve developmental milestones, and transition safely through hospitalization and discharge.

Why Monroe Carell Children's Hospital?

Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt is a 378-bed pediatric hospital located on the Vanderbilt Health campus in Nashville, Tennessee.

Highlights include:

• Level IV NICU (highest designation) with more than 100 beds
• Level I Pediatric Trauma Center
• 48-room Pediatric Emergency Department
• Three surgical locations
• 21 operating rooms
• Nationally recognized pediatric specialty programs
• One of the fastest-growing pediatric healthcare destinations in the Southeast

As Nashville and Middle Tennessee continue to grow, Monroe Carell is growing alongside the communities we serve.

A Culture of Warmth, Joy, and Teamwork

Exceptional patient care starts with exceptional teamwork.

Our rehabilitation team is known for its culture of collaboration, kindness, mentorship, and genuine support for one another. Physical Therapists are respected clinical partners whose expertise helps shape patient outcomes every day.

You'll collaborate closely with:

• Physicians and Advanced Practice Providers
• Nurses
• Occupational Therapists
• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Child Life Specialists
• Social Workers
• Care Managers
• Families and Caregivers

This is a team that celebrates successes together, supports one another through challenging cases, and remains focused on delivering outstanding care to children and families.

What You'll Do

As a Pediatric Acute Care Physical Therapist, you will:

• Evaluate and treat hospitalized pediatric patients across medical, surgical, neurological, orthopedic, cardiac, oncology, trauma, and critical care populations
• Assess mobility, strength, balance, endurance, gross motor skills, developmental status, positioning, equipment needs, and functional abilities
• Develop individualized treatment plans that support mobility, function, developmental progression, and safe discharge
• Provide therapeutic interventions focused on mobility, gait training, developmental activities, positioning, caregiver education, and equipment recommendations
• Collaborate within an interdisciplinary care team
• Participate in care planning, rounds, and discharge recommendations
• Document evaluations and treatment within Epic

Schedule & Orientation

• PRN Position
• Weekday coverage with occasional weekend opportunities
• Flexible 8- or 10-hour shifts
• Orientation start dates are always on a Monday
• Requires two weeks of full-time daytime orientation to support successful onboarding and integration into the team

Qualifications

Required

• Graduate of an accredited Physical Therapy program
• Current Tennessee Physical Therapist license or eligibility
• Current BLS certification
• Pediatric acute care, pediatric rehabilitation, pediatric hospital, or closely related experience
• Ability to independently manage a medically complex patient population

Preferred

• Children's hospital experience
• Pediatric acute care experience
• Experience treating medically complex pediatric patients
• Experience with developmental assessment, mobility training, positioning, equipment recommendations, caregiver education, and discharge planning
• Experience working within interdisciplinary pediatric healthcare teams

Important Consideration

Because of the complexity of the patient population and the specialized nature of pediatric acute care practice, this PRN role is best suited for experienced Physical Therapists.

Physical Therapists who are newer to practice are encouraged to monitor Vanderbilt Health career opportunities for future full-time Pediatric Physical Therapist openings as our Pediatric Rehabilitation programs continue to grow.

Make a Difference at Vanderbilt

If you're passionate about pediatric acute care, interdisciplinary collaboration, family-centered care, and helping children achieve their highest level of mobility and function during hospitalization, we'd love to connect with you.

Join a team known for clinical excellence, compassion, teamwork, and putting children and families at the center of everything we do.

 

 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.
• 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 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. Has completed at least one year of clinical experience in treatment implementation.
• 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.

Allied health is among the fastest growing occupations in healthcare today. This area can be defined as credentialed professionals who perform supportive, diagnostic, and therapeutic health care services to promote health and prevent disease in a variety of settings.

These areas are crucial to Vanderbilt Health’s reputation for excellence in these areas that has made us a major center for patient referrals from throughout the Mid-South.

Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the southeast choose Vanderbilt Health for their health care because of our leadership in medical science and our dedication to treating patients with dignity and compassion.

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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 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-Physical Therapy License - Tennessee

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.

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.