Occupational Therapist (OT) - Certified Hand Therapist (CHT)

Vanderbilt University Medical Center•Nashville, TN

4d•Onsite

About The Position

Vanderbilt Health is seeking an experienced Occupational Therapist - Certified Hand Therapist (OTR/L, CHT) to join their hand therapy program at Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Lebanon. This role involves providing specialized care for patients recovering from hand, wrist, and elbow injuries, surgeries, and other upper extremity conditions. The therapist will work collaboratively with fellowship-trained hand surgeons and orthopedic specialists in a supportive outpatient setting, practicing at the top of their license. The position offers a dedicated hand therapy caseload with one-on-one patient care, including 60-minute evaluations and 30-minute treatment sessions, with a typical daily volume of 10-14 patients. Common diagnoses treated include Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, tendon injuries, fractures, arthritis, brachial plexus injuries, burns, nerve compression syndromes, ligament injuries, and work-related or sports injuries. The clinic provides comprehensive care for hand, wrist, elbow, and upper extremity conditions, combining conservative and post-surgical treatment to help patients restore function.

Requirements

Graduate of an accredited Occupational Therapy program
Current Tennessee Occupational Therapist license (or license eligible)
Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) credential
Current OTR/L designation
Relevant Work Experience
Experience Level : 1 year
Bachelor's
Rehab Therapist Patient Documentation (Intermediate): 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. May complete accurate chart audits of co-workers in the same classification category
Treatment Planning & Goal Setting (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery 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. May serve as a mentor for other clinical staff to develop their skills in treatment planning. May consult with team members or implement new procedures.
Rehabilitation Therapist Patient Evaluation (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery 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. Demonstrates experience in clinical evaluation skills and may serve as a mentor for other clinical staff to develop their skills in evaluation techniques. Contributes to the development of best practices for the organization. May consult with team members to implement new procedures.
Treatment Implementation (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery 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. Supervises and directs certified athletic trainers (PT only), physical therapist / occupational therapist assistants, technicians and volunteers and students. Selects and follows correct protocol for care, as established, and actively seek out, utilize and mentor/teach others on current evidence based treatment strategies. May consult with team members to offer suggestions for treatment strategies. May serve as a clinical content expert for practice area, initiates consultation with team members for advanced treatment of patients, develop forum for staff members to utilize clinical expertise.
Physical/Occupational Therapist Patient Education (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery in communicating functional impact of assessment findings, treatment interventions, treatment planning diagnosis, and disease process. Able to adapt communication to needs/level of understanding of audience and share appropriate information/literature. May supervise, educate and train students from professional programs of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and athletic training and/or students and staff from other departments. Contributes in the development of patient education best practices for the organization.

Nice To Haves

Outpatient orthopedic occupational therapy experience
Post-surgical upper extremity rehabilitation experience
Custom splint fabrication and orthotic management experience
Epic EMR experience

Responsibilities

Provides occupational therapy services to patients who have impairments, developmental disabilities, 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.
Perform comprehensive hand and upper extremity evaluations.
Develop individualized, evidence-based treatment plans.
Design and progress therapeutic exercise programs.
Fabricate and modify custom orthoses and splints.
Deliver post-surgical rehabilitation following tendon repairs, fractures, nerve procedures, and ligament reconstructions.
Utilize advanced manual therapy and therapeutic interventions.
Educate patients on injury management, home programs, and return-to-work strategies.
Collaborate closely with hand surgeons, orthopedic providers, and rehabilitation colleagues.
Maintain accurate documentation in Epic EMR.
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.