Home Health Occupational Therapist (Per Diem)

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Summary

Job Description

POSITION SUMMARY: It is the function of the Occupational Therapist to evaluate and provide treatment to patients of the agency that have been referred by the physician for evaluation and treatment of physical and/or psychosocial dysfunction.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Qualified individuals must have the ability (with or without reasonable accommodation) to perform the following duties:

• Administers occupational therapy evaluations when requested by the agency for patients who are accepted for care only by the agency in accordance with its admission policies.
• Informs the patient/caregiver of his/her rights as per agency policy.  Includes patient/caregiver in initial care planning and when modifying plan of care.
• Gives age-appropriate occupational therapy in accordance with Agency policies and physicians plan of care.
• Consults with the multidisciplinary team and integrates occupational therapy services into the total patient plan of care.
• Observes, records and reports to the multidisciplinary team the patient's reaction to treatment and any changes in the patient's condition.
• Plans with the patient immediate and long range goals for the attainment and maintenance of optimal function in keeping with total individual needs.
• Continually evaluates effect of treatment, scope of program, patient's relationship to others and his response to environment.
• Instructs other health team personnel and family members in certain phases of occupational therapy in which they may work with the patient.
• Provides age-appropriate patient education in collaboration with patient/caregiver and members of the health care team as relevant to occupational therapy.
• Supervises the occupational therapy assistant if and when one is employed by the agency; when appropriate, supervises the home health aide.
• Participates in the agency's orientation and staff education program.
•  Records in patient's record evaluation reports, treatment goal and plan and appropriate progress notes; maintains other records and submits reports according to agency policy.
• Acts as a consultant to other agency personnel; interprets occupational therapy's role and function in the treatment of patients and the relationship of occupational therapy to other restorative services provided by the agency.
• Assists in the development of policies related to occupational therapy and in solving the problems related to such policies.
• Represents the agency at professional and related meetings as indicated.
• Follows all agency policies and procedures.

SECONDARY FUNCTIONS: The following duties are considered secondary to the primary duties listed above:

• Other duties as assigned.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Current occupational therapist license in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
• Current driver's license and auto insurance.
• Current CPR certification.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

COGNITIVE REQUIREMENTS

Attention/Concentration: The following level of ability is essential for the jobholder to focus on certain aspects of current experience and reject others:

• The position requires strong concentration skills.  The individual must have the ability to voluntarily sustain concentration to a task over an extended period of time as a result of an effortful and usually deliberate heightened and focused state of attention.

New Learning and Memory: The following level of ability is essential for the jobholder to learn and retain material:

• A large portion of this position required reliance on verbal memory and new learning.  Efficiency in processing of verbal information, either in written or spoken form, is a major requirement and prerequisite of the job.  The individual must be able to attend to and process multiple bits of information simultaneously.  The individual must be able to organize and categorize this information effectively so that later recall is feasible.

Problem Solving, Reasoning and Creative Thinking: The following level of ability that is essential for the jobholder to think (in order to solve a problem) by combining two or more elements from past experience or imaginative thought:

• The position required much autonomy of thought and problem solving.  The individual must be able to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to define problems.  The individual must be able to think abstractly, which is manifested in the ability to form concepts, use categories, generalize from single instances, apply procedural rules and general principles, and be aware of subtle or intrinsic aspects of a problem.  The development of hypothesis and potential solutions to problems involves careful interpretation, analysis and diagnosis.  The individual must be able to collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.  The individual must be able to think creatively with a degree of inventiveness, experimentation and intuition.  They must be able to deal with a variety of concrete and abstract variables.

TEMPERAMENTS:  The following are essential requirements of the position in relation to job-worker situations.  These items describe how a worker must adapt, adjust, conform or act:

Creativity, feelings or ideas: Ability to adapt to situations involving the interpretation of feelings, ideas, or facts in terms of personal viewpoint; to use creativity, self-expression, or imagination.

Influencing others: Ability to influence people in their opinions, attitudes or judgments about ideas or things; to motivate, convince or negotiate.

Performing under stressful conditions: Ability to perform under stress when confronted with emergency, critical, unusual, or dangerous situations, or in situations in which working speed and sustained attention are critical aspects of the job. Is subject to danger or risk, or to tension as a regular, consistent part of the job.

Variety and change: Ability to perform a variety of duties, often changing from one task to another of a different nature without loss of efficiency or composure involving significant differences in technologies, techniques, procedures, environmental factors, physical demands, or work situations.

Communication:  Ability to exchange information with others clearly and concisely; to present ideas, facts and technical information.

Planning and control: Ability to identify task requirements and monitor progress toward accomplishment.

Interpersonal relations: Ability to maintain relationships that facilitate task accomplishment; to cooperate and resolve conflicts; to recognize needs and be sensitive of others.

Language: Reading, Writing & Speaking:

• Ability to read periodicals, journals, manuals, dictionaries, thesauruses, and encyclopedias.
• Ability to prepare business letters, proposals, summaries, and reports; using prescribed format and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style; using all parts of speech.
• Ability to conduct training, communicate at panel discussions and to make presentations with poise and control.

Mathematics: The following levels of ability are necessary to understand mathematical concepts and apply them to problem-solving situations. Ability to add and subtract two-digit numbers.

• Ability to multiply and divide.
• Ability to perform the four basic arithmetic operations with coins as part of a dollar.
• Ability to perform operations with units such as inch, foot, yard, ounce and pound (and/or their metric counterparts).
• Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide all units of measure.
• Ability to perform the four operations with like or common decimal fractions.
• Ability to compute rate, ratio and percent.
• Ability to draw and interpret bar graphs.
• Ability to perform arithmetic operations involving all American monetary units. Ability to compute profit and loss, ratio and proportion, and percentage.
• Ability to calculate surfaces, volume, weights, and measures.
• Using Algebra, to calculate variables and formulas; monomials and polynomials; ratio and proportion variables; and square roots and radicals.
• Using Geometry to calculate plane and solid figures; circumference, area, and volume, to understand kinds of angles, and properties of pairs of angles.

EQUIPMENT USAGE REQUIREMENTS: MACHINES, EQUIPMENT, TOOLS, SOFTWARE: To perform the essential duties of the position, use of the following machines, equipment, tools, and software is customarily required:

Machinery/Equipment: Computer, phone, copier, printer, fax

Tools:   office supplies

Software:   Microsoft Office Products

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: Degree of physical exertion is heavy, exerting in excess of 100 pounds of force occasionally, and/or in excess of 20 pounds of force constantly to move objects.

BODY POSITION AND MOVEMENT: The following positions or movements are typical of the job:

• SITTING is done frequently.
• WALKING is done frequently.
• STANDING is done frequently.
• CLIMBING is done frequently.
• REACHING (Extending out and retrieving objects outside immediate range) is done frequently.
• PUSHING (To press against something with substantial steady force in order to thrust forward, downward or outward) is done frequently.
• PULLING (To exert a considerable force in order to draw, drag, haul or tug objects in a sustained motion) is done frequently.
• LIFTING (To raise objects from a lower to a higher position or moving objects horizontally from position to position) is done frequently.
• END‑RANGE MOTION (To fully extend or retract a bodily part or joint to its maximum range in order to reach, push, pull, lift, or otherwise perform job functions) is done frequently.
• STOOPING/CRAWLING (To lower the body to floor level, and move about with agility) is done frequently.

VISUAL REQUIREMENTS:  (Considerations include color, depth perception and field of vision).

• The job requires a good sense of vision (with or without correction) necessary to distinguish like objects from one another, to scan fields of data and select numbers or characters, and/or to detect and visually follow moving objects.

AUDITORY (HEARING) REQUIREMENTS: Examples of the types of sounds that must be heard and the reason they must be heard are listed below:

SOUND                                 PURPOSE

voices                                     to converse, communicate

telephone ringing                 to answer incoming calls

WORKING CONDITIONS: Exposure to hazardous conditions/ materials is negligible.

Disclaimer: This job description is not intended and should not be construed to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job.  It is intended to be a reflection of those principal job elements essential for recruitment and selection, for making fair job evaluations, and for establishing performance standards.  The percentages of time spent performing job duties are estimates, and should not be considered absolute.  The incumbent shall perform all other functions and/or be cross-trained as shall be determined at the sole discretion of management, who has the right to amend, modify, or terminate this job in part or in whole.  Incumbent must be able to perform all job functions safely.

Disclaimer

Part Time Posted on 01/26/2024