Physical Therapist – Pediatric Acute Care (Inpatient)

Vanderbilt University Medical Center • Full-time • Nashville, Tennessee, United States • 5d ago

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

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.

Job Title: Physical Therapist – Pediatric Acute Care (Inpatient)
Location: Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt | Nashville, TN
Schedule: Full-Time | 40 Hours per Week

Job Summary

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is seeking a Pediatric Physical Therapist to join our Acute Care Rehabilitation Team, delivering high-quality inpatient therapy services to infants, children, and adolescents with complex medical needs. This role offers the opportunity to practice pediatric acute care physical therapy within a nationally recognized children’s hospital and academic medical center.

Our therapists play a vital role in supporting mobility, function, and safe transitions of care for hospitalized children, while partnering closely with families during critical moments of recovery and healing.

About Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt

Ranked among the nation’s leading children’s hospitals, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt provides comprehensive, family-centered pediatric care across a wide range of acute inpatient units. Patients are treated across medical, surgical, neurological, traumatic, and specialty service lines in a highly collaborative academic environment focused on excellence and innovation.

About the Pediatric Acute Care Rehabilitation Team

The Acute Care Rehabilitation Team provides inpatient physical and occupational therapy services throughout the hospital using a true multidisciplinary care model. Physical Therapists are essential members of the care team and collaborate closely with physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, child life specialists, social work, case management, patients, and families.

Physical Therapists evaluate and treat children with complex medical conditions, post-surgical needs, neurological diagnoses, trauma, and chronic illnesses, developing individualized, goal-driven plans of care that support mobility, endurance, caregiver education, and safe discharge planning throughout hospitalization.

Key Responsibilities

• Evaluate and treat pediatric patients with neurological, orthopedic, post-surgical, cardiopulmonary, and medically complex conditions
• Provide inpatient pediatric physical therapy services across acute care units; outpatient pediatric physical therapy services may be provided based on clinic needs
• Develop and implement individualized, evidence-based, goal-oriented treatment plans
• Educate and support patients and caregivers to promote safe mobility and carryover beyond hospitalization
• Collaborate effectively with an interdisciplinary healthcare team
• Complete evaluations, treatment documentation, progress notes, and outcomes in accordance with hospital, state, and regulatory standards

What Sets This Role Apart

• Broad clinical exposure across medical, surgical, and specialty pediatric units serving patients from infancy through adolescence
• Strong interdisciplinary collaboration with PT, OT, SLP, Nursing, Physicians, Social Work, Case Management, Child Life Specialists, and Music Therapists
• Emphasis on evidence-based, developmentally appropriate, and family-centered care
• Opportunity to support mobility progression, caregiver education, and discharge planning in a fast-paced pediatric acute care setting

This role is ideal for therapists who enjoy variety in their caseload, value interdisciplinary teamwork, and are passionate about helping children and families navigate hospitalization while promoting function, independence, and quality of life.

Qualifications

Graduate of an accredited Physical Therapy program
Current Tennessee Physical Therapy license or eligibility to obtain
Pediatric acute care or inpatient pediatric experience strongly preferred

Oncology experience or interest

BLS certification required

Schedule Details

• Full-time, 40 hours per week
• 8-hour shifts with flexible start times
• Tuesday–Saturday schedule
• Weekend and Holidays rotated

Why Join Vanderbilt Health

• Practice within a nationally recognized healthcare system
• Be part of a collaborative, mission-driven pediatric rehabilitation team
• Work in an environment focused on excellence, innovation, and compassionate care
• Access professional development and continuing education opportunities

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
• 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.
• 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.

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.

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 :

1 year

Education:

Bachelor's

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.