Occupational Therapist

At OrthoIllinois we create an environment for our team of Rehabilitation professionals to provide the highest level of care possible for our patients. Collaborative communication with our referring sub-specialty providers and teamwork throughout the organization allows seamless care for our patients all under one roof.

We offer a competitive compensation package tailored to your years of relevant experience, backed by a defined compensation structure informed by market data. This ensures that your skills and contributions are not only recognized but also aligned with industry standards.

At OrthoIllinois we are committed to professional growth and development with a generous continuing education package annually.  We are a host location for numerous accredited CEU courses each year and carve out time for all-department in-services to align our shared goals.  Additionally, we support advanced certifications, training, and the opportunity to observe surgery and shadow physician clinics fostering a collaborative team environment.

At OrthoIllinois we offer a Quarterly Productivity bonus that is achieved by an average of eighty percent of our clinicians each quarter. In addition, our staff is eligible to receive the annual Patient Satisfaction Bonus as we believe the team contributes to the success and satisfaction of our patients.   

Whether a new graduate or an experienced therapist, OrthoIllinois strives to offer a learning environment that fosters growth for a therapist with less experience as well as a challenge for the more seasoned graduate. For the newer graduate, we are excited to offer an extensive one to two year Mentor Program.  At OrthoIllinois we believe mentoring helps set therapists up for success and we have a large team of exceptional therapists to learn and grow alongside.  Monthly one-on-one training provides mentorship in areas of clinical reasoning and decision-making skills, evidence-based practice, and joint-specific evaluation and manual therapy interventions.   

We believe encouraging a collaborative work environment as well as working closely with our exceptional physician teams sets our therapists up for success. This collaborative team approach along with working one on one with patients has been a formula for success and patient satisfaction at OrthoIllinois.

Job Purpose:

The Occupational Therapist (OT) is responsible for performing occupational therapy evaluations and treatments for patients to ensure quality continuity of patient care. The OT empowers patients to participate more fully in daily tasks when abilities are compromised by a health condition.  This role is essential to the Rehabilitation Department in providing well-executed care plans for patients while putting their needs first.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provides quality, efficient, patient-centered occupational therapy treatment according to the orders of the physician and plan of care
• Evaluates patients referred for occupational therapy services by assessing functional abilities, including physical, emotional, cognitive and sensory components to determine the necessity of skilled occupational therapy intervention
• Determines and develops a patient-centered plan of care considering the patient’s history, context, and goals
• Provides Occupational Therapy guidance, support, and education during patient sessions monitoring and responding to verbal and nonverbal pain cues
• Fabricates orthoses and utilizes various modalities according to physician orders or to support a patient's plan of care
• Ensures safety at discharge and continuation of progress by providing home exercise programs, family/caregiver instruction, recommendations for assistive equipment and recommendations for continued therapy at home
• Makes patient care decisions under the Occupational Therapy scope of practice.
• Conducts patient account management tasks such as logging patient statements, making outgoing calls and taking incoming patient calls
• Effectively documents daily treatments, evaluations, and completion of progress notes to support each patient's individualized plan of care utilizing EMR and other electronic formats; communicates verbally and collaborates with the healthcare team to provide efficient, effective, patient-centered care
• Maintains patient confidence by keeping information confidential, keeping the work environment safe and clean, and adhering to infection control and other safety policies
• Interacts with a friendly demeanor with patients, caregivers and families, physicians, all clinic, therapy and practice staff, DME vendors, and nurse case managers
• Communicates with fellow therapists/therapy team, physicians, and administrative staff for scheduling, verification of benefits, managing supplies and equipment, and coordination of patient care
• Contributes to the department's development and progress by attending continuing education, assisting with training new hires, mentoring new grads, collaborating with colleagues, and developing protocols. Also participates in, develops and/or presents on research projects, and specialty-specific round tables
• Provides input into the processes that occur in the occupational therapy department, and in the rehabilitation department, as a whole

Competencies:

• Service: We align our actions and decision making with the organization’s guiding platform keeping our patients at the center of all we do.
• Change Agent: We support and contribute to positive change in the organization.
• Communication and Interpersonal Relations: We communicate honestly and with compassion to build connections with our patients and each other.
• Effectiveness: We take ownership of work, doing the right thing for our customer and doing it well.

Organizational Culture:

All OrthoIllinois employees focus on service by putting the mission, vision, and value statements into practice and using the guiding principles of Compassion, Respect, Trust, Integrity, Innovation, Education Fiscal Responsibility, Practice Independence, Accountability, and Empowerment to direct their interactions and decision making.  Employees promote and model the service standards to create lasting impressions, extraordinary moments, exceptional on-stage experiences, and meaningful and compassionate connections.   

Education and Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree (B.A./B.S.) in Occupational Therapy or Master’s Degree, or Doctorate in Occupational Therapy required
• Experience working in an outpatient therapy clinic or orthopedic setting preferred
• Illinois OT license, National board certification (NBCOT)
• CHT designation through the hand therapy certification commission (HTCC) preferred
• Working knowledge of Microsoft and Google Suites
• Familiarity with EMR and Physical Rehabilitation software

Environmental/Working Conditions:

Working environment is in an office/clinic setting.

Physical/Mental Demands: 

• Sit or stand for long periods of time, walk for periods of time, kneel, crawl, stoop, and climb stairs
• Requires lifting, carrying, or moving heavier objects i.e., pushing or pulling up to 100 pounds and lifting and carrying up to 50 pounds
• Possess full range of motion in shoulders and arms, including reaching above or below the shoulder.
• Finger dexterity, the ability to twist hands/wrists repetitively, pushing/pulling against stiff joints, using a variety of holds; demonstrating exercises, lifting/raising over shoulder height
• Vision: Posses close, distant, peripheral and color vision and ability to adjust focus
• Hearing: Ability to detect high pitch, soft, or distant sounds in a clinic setting
• OT staff must be able to hear patients’ potential verbalization of pain in response to care/treatment within (at times) a loud clinic. Operates the following: Modalities (e-stim, NMES, whirlpool), sharps (scalpels, tweezers, scissors)

This description is intended to provide only basic guidelines for meeting job requirements.  Responsibilities, knowledge, skills, abilities and working conditions may change as needs evolve