**Position Title: Physical Therapist I**

**Overview:** The Physical Therapist I primarily manages outpatient care with occasional responsibilities in acute care settings. This role includes the delegation of tasks to Physical Therapist Assistants and aides. The incumbent's activities focus on patient-centered care, applying assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation in compliance with evidence-based physical therapy standards, physician directives, and regulatory policies.

**Essential Duties and Responsibilities:**

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**Patient Evaluation:

** Conduct comprehensive evaluations of patients' functional status through formal and informal assessment techniques to ascertain skeletal, neurological, respiratory, and cardiovascular health.   - 

**Treatment Planning:** Formulate targeted treatment regimens based on evaluative data and the patient’s response to optimize implementation of the prescribed care plan.

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**Documentation and Collaboration:** Draft and submit a formal treatment plan to be integrated into the authorized plan of care, ensuring alignment with physician input. Adjust treatment plans as necessary to reflect patient status changes. Co-sign verbal orders from Physical Therapist Assistants when required.

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**Scheduling:** Create and communicate a frequency- and duration-specific treatment schedule to patients, families, and caregivers, coordinating with clinical support personnel.

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**Patient Education:** Provide in-depth education to patients, families, and caregivers regarding their conditions, treatment alternatives, prognosis, and the rationale for proposed therapeutic interventions, utilizing various modalities and therapeutic exercises.

**Additional Responsibilities:**

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**Supervision:** Oversee the activities of Physical Therapist Assistants, aides, Home Health Aides, and students per organizational and regulatory standards.   - 

**Equipment Procurement:** Assess patients’ needs for adaptive and supportive equipment, liaise with suppliers to facilitate orders, and assist patients in securing necessary equipment.

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**Documentation Compliance:** Record patient responses to therapies and any changes in their condition following affiliate documentation policies and regulatory guidelines. Ensure timely completion of daily documentation related to billing processes.

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**Intervention Competence:

** Provide therapeutic interventions that restore or enhance optimal functional outcomes within the therapist's specialty area.

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**Home Education Programs:** Educate families and caregivers in home-based therapeutic routines using effective teaching methodologies.

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**Communication:** Maintain effective oral and written communication skills to enhance patient care quality through coordination with interdisciplinary team members.

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**Professional Development:** Foster education and development among staff, students, and healthcare providers through relevant training opportunities. Engage in process improvement initiatives and program development.

- **Community Engagement:** Advocate for physical therapy services by participating in community education efforts and functioning as a case manager for designated cases.

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**Commitment to Mission:** Demonstrate a commitment to the affiliate’s mission through exemplary customer service, high-quality care, and teamwork.

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**Confidentiality:** Uphold patient privacy in accordance with affiliate policies.

**Additional Job Functions:**

- Conduct additional duties as assigned.

**Skills and Qualifications:**

- Proficient verbal and written communication skills in English to engage with diverse populations at various organizational levels.  

- Ability to work autonomously while showcasing effective problem-solving, organizational capabilities, and time management skills.

- Compliance with mandatory Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements annually, per the Exposure Control Plan.

- Readiness to work in environments potentially exposing the individual to communicable diseases, with correct usage of personal protective equipment.

- Capability to execute essential job functions with reasonable accommodations as needed.

- Skills to demonstrate and educate on selected treatment protocols to both professional and non-professional audiences.

**Physical and Mental Requirements:**

- Ability to navigate stressful situations involving public interactions, including those associated with trauma, grief, and death.

- Physical capacity to wear necessary personal protective equipment, including latex alternatives if required.

- Mobility to freely move within the healthcare facility and perform outlined job functions.

- Adequate vision and hearing capabilities, with or without assistive devices.

- Capacity to sit, stand, and walk for extended periods, which may include frequent postural changes.

- Awareness of exposure to bloodborne pathogens and infectious materials, with adherence to health testing protocols.

- Competence in managing multiple tasks, maintaining effective interpersonal relations, and ensuring consistent attendance and alertness during work hours.

- Dexterity to perform tasks requiring manipulation, reaching, grasping, and feeling, with potential for repetitive motion. 

**Certifications and Licenses:**

- Basic Life Support (BLS) certification required within one month of hire or transfer.

- Valid Physical Therapy License (PT).