Occupational Therapist Clinical Specialist (OT)

Stanford Health Care•Stanford, CA

21h•$69 - $91•Onsite

About The Position

Stanford Health Care is hiring an Inpatient Acute Occupational Therapist, Clinical Specialist (Occupational Therapist IV). This senior therapist is fully competent in the duties of Occupational Therapist I, II, and III and applies advanced clinical skills across a diverse and complex range of patient populations, ages, and diagnoses. The role functions independently as a content expert in designated populations or service lines and may receive administrative time to develop or modify pathways, processes, and interventions. This includes researching initiatives, assessing their impact on rehabilitation practices, and ensuring staff are informed, educated, and aligned with new processes. The Inpatient Acute Occupational Therapy department serves patients in areas including general medicine, neurology, cardiothoracic care, the emergency department, orthopedics, trauma, neurosurgery, intensive care, transplants, and oncology. The department is certified in Joint, Stroke, and VADs, and offers specialized mentorship and services in vision, VAD, custom splinting, pain, mental health, and vestibular care. Staff collaborate with providers and interdisciplinary teams and use innovative equipment to support safety, patient progress, and quality of life. The clinical specialist leads patient-care and discipline or team meetings, supports staff education and mentorship, contributes to program and policy development, and represents the Rehab Department in specialty quality and process-improvement work. The role also provides clinical instruction and orientation support, maintains specialty expertise, and helps assess and meet the educational needs of staff. The position is onsite in Palo Alto and is a full-time, day-shift role with a 10-hour schedule. The department describes its teams as collaborative and supportive, with access to mentorship, continuing education funds and days, frequent learning activities, department and hospital-wide councils, a clinical ladder, and potential future leadership opportunities. Employees are expected to uphold Stanford Health Care's C-I-CARE standards and support an exceptional patient and family experience.

Requirements

Master's or Doctorate degree.
Graduation from an approved Occupational Therapy curriculum.
At least five years of clinical practice as an Occupational Therapist.
One certification under AOTA board certification, CA Advanced Practice, or another certification determined on a case-by-case basis.
Experience leading a Department or Interdisciplinary Program/Initiative or Process Improvement Project.
Substantial content expertise in the service, unit, or patient population of the specialty.
Successfully complete a Stanford Leadership Development course within the first 12 months of hire.
Complete at least 50% of required annual continuing education hours in the area of specialty.
BLS - Basic Life Support certification.
OTR - Registered Occupational Therapist certification.
Knowledge of professional ethics and performance standards, equipment and vendors, business aspects of the position, evaluation and treatment methodologies, applicable legal issues, relevant pathologies and injuries, and the principles and methods of the clinical specialty.
Ability to communicate effectively with patients, families, coworkers, visitors, supervisors, and other health professionals.
Ability to develop and document clear, accurate, realistic, measurable, functionally based treatment goals that include patient and family input.
Ability to develop, implement, and adapt treatment programs, including in response to changing clinical status.
Ability to evaluate patients, interpret clinical data, and make sound clinical judgments in complex situations.
Ability to provide appropriate care based on professional practice standards and individual needs, including age, development, culture, psychosocial factors, precautions, and medical condition.
Ability to use sound clinical reasoning, safety awareness, judgment, and problem-solving skills to determine appropriate interventions.
Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with others.
Ability to clinically supervise, train, and evaluate students, interns, residents, and fellows.
Ability to apply advanced clinical skills to difficult and complex cases.
Ability to advance care in the specialty through research, collaboration with medical teams, presentations, and continuing education.
Ability to translate knowledge into clinical practice and represent the Rehab Department in cross-functional improvement initiatives.

Responsibilities

Perform all essential functions of Occupational Therapist I, II, and III with a more diverse and highly complex patient population.
Lead patient-care conferences and communicate with and teach other care providers.
Lead team or discipline meetings.
Recommend departmental policies and procedures and lead new program development, including treatment protocols for new patient populations.
Develop clinical teaching content, instruct interns, students, residents, and staff, and prepare and present at least three in-services per year.
Help reevaluate care delivery and programs and complete assignments in the departmental service-improvement plan.
Participate in research or new program development, such as developing treatment protocols for new patient populations.
Function as a clinical instructor for Occupational Therapy students as needed.
Participate regularly as faculty or mentor in the Advanced Training Program.
Serve as a primary orientation resource as needed.
Maintain expertise in the assigned focus area and communicate with unit or service-line staff and leadership about changes to policies, practices, protocols, and equipment.
Assess the needs of the service line or patient population, identify staff education needs, and serve as a resource for meeting them.
Act as a liaison to assigned Specialty Unit or Service Line staff.
Represent the Rehab Department at Specialty Quality Meetings or Process Improvement Initiatives.
Use clinical and face-to-face communication, education sessions, and internal or external content experts to ensure rehabilitation staff understand new or proposed processes.
Adopt and execute Stanford Health Care's C-I-CARE standards and support an exceptional patient and family experience.