What are the responsibilities and job description for the Therapeutic Recreation Specialist position at Hospital for Special Care?
Position Location:
Hospital for Special Care
Scheduled Weekly Hours:
32
Work Shift:
First Shift
Department:
Inpatient Rehabilitation Services
We are dedicated to creating an environment of care and engagement that makes us one of the most desirable places to work, providing exceptional care to each patient each and every day!
THIS JOB IS ELIGIBLE FOR A SIGN ON BONUS!
QUALIFICATIONS
- Required: Valid driver's license.
- Required: Baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with a major in therapeutic recreation.
- Required: Certification by the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation within six months of hire.
- Required: Maintains competency requirements as defined by NCTRC and ATRA standards of practice.
- Preferred: Current CPR Certification.
- Preferred: Minimum of one year clinical experience.
- Preferred: Public Passenger endorsement(s).
JOB SUMMARY
The Therapeutic Recreation Specialist will evaluate, plan, implement and document according to the ATRA standards. Create therapeutic recreation programs that benefit the patients’ health, functional status, personal development and quality of life. Ensure the successful provision of recreation/leisure/community participation throughout admission utilizing an interdisciplinary team approach, communicating relevant information to others and providing education to staff, patients and families as necessary. The TRS will mentor and provide training to aide level staff and volunteers as appropriate.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
- Ability to tolerate up to four hours of consecutive work. Endurance for up to one and one-half hour periods of constant sitting and one hour periods of independent mobility.
- Ability to safely transfer patients and provide contact guarding or hands-on assistance.
- Ability to lift or carry objects up to 10 pounds continuously, to 20 pounds occasionally, to 50 pounds occasionally and over 100 pounds occasionally for patient transfer.
- Ability to push/pull over 100 pounds occasionally throughout the day for patient transport.
- Frequent need to initiate body positional changes to access equipment from high and low areas and while providing treatment interventions.
- Ability to tolerate submersion in up to shoulder-depth water from 1-2 hours.
- Functional fine and gross motor skills and upper extremity sensation needed.
- Intact vision needed for observation of patient's non-verbal responses and driving.
- Employees in this position must be able to participate in the physical management of patients which can include, but is not limited to, awareness and demonstration of safe body positioning at all times, awareness and coordination to block and deflect possible aggression, and the ability to physically hold struggling patients, using approved methods only, to maintain safety for extended periods of time.
- Specifically, such employees must be able to lift up to 50 pounds; reach with their hands and arms, grasp and hold with their hands; bend/squat/kneel without limitation and physically escort patients who may become combative for short distances.
- Position requires occasional running for short distances and frequent standing walking and sitting.
COGNITIVE DEMANDS
- Job requires independent problem identification, quick decision making, and abstract reasoning.
- Job also requires the ability to adapt information to new situations and changing environments. A high degree of selective attention, discernment, perception, and/or concentration in the presence of noise/distraction is necessary.
- Job requires clinical judgment to analyze and synthesize information, discriminate relevant from irrelevant information and determine prognosis and plan of care through interpretation of medical history and data gathered in evaluation.
- Job requires ability to learn new techniques, apply theory to functional context, determine interventions to be used and modify plan of care to patient needs. Reading, auditory comprehension of abstract information, and an ability to make inferences are also required.
- Job requires a high degree of writing proficiency including attention to detail, and adherence to all elements of style. A working knowledge and familiarity with medical terms and definitions is required.
- Job requires a high level of communication skill including expression of abstract/complex ideas, use of negotiation and active listening and an ability to dialogue with multiple parties. Must demonstrate the ability to modify communication skills to the listener's level of ability or readiness to comprehend.
- Job requires the ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide with all units of measure, and the ability to perform these operations with common and decimal fractions. Also, to compute ratio, rate and percent and perform arithmetic operations.
WORK DEMANDS
- Job requires primarily working indoors with an occasional need to be outdoors.
- Job requires working regularly with and around others.
- Schedule fluctuation is frequent and often unpredictable due to census, documentation requirements or program development, as well as weekend coverage of therapeutic recreation individual and group programs.
- There is occasional exposure to particles, chemicals that could cause eye, nose or skin irritation-such as those utilized for equipment cleaning.
- There is exposure to body fluids, contagious disease and occasionally blood borne pathogens and radiation.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
- Provides evaluation and treatment of recreation, leisure, and community reintegration as dictated by the ATRA practice standards.
- Recognizes physiological, psychological, and age-related changes in the patient, consults with other Health Care Team members, and establishes measurable goals with the patient and family based on appropriate patient care protocols and critical paths.
- Plans, implements, delivers, and delegates patient care by utilizing appropriate therapeutic modalities and interventions based on assessments, revising treatments when needed, instructing patient/family through verbal, written, and audiovisual materials and participating in discharge planning including recommendations to community resources to meet patient needs throughout the continuum of care.
- Maintains knowledge of advances in the care delivery through evidence-based review, peer reviews, case discussion and continuing education.
- Coordinates time management of self and support personnel by organizing schedules to meet patient care needs, carrying a patient load that meets productivity requirements and reflects standards of care of the service area collaborating with team members for assistance and coverage when needed to meet patient outcomes and department goals and standards.
- Supervises responsibilities that have been delegated to supportive personnel.
- Documents in a timely manner all patient and professional interactions such as evaluations, assessments, progress towards goals, equipment purchase orders, statistical reports, home programs and discharge summaries to maintain continuity of patient care for department standards, JCAHO and outside regulatory and insurance agencies.
- Communicates understanding both verbally and nonverbally to patients and families, health care team members, supervisors, and students in an appropriate manner to enhance positive relationships both internally and externally.
- Demonstrates professionalism in all interactions to promote the needs of the patient and the institution they represent. Utilizes the AIDET principles in all interactions with internal and external customers.
- Demonstrates appropriate critical incident follow-up skills by timely verbal reporting to charge RN and documentation in medical record.
- Completes other documentation, i.e. incident reports, seclusion and restraint forms, as applicable. Participates in debriefings.
- Handle crisis situations in a safe, effective manner, utilizing the least restrictive, safe patient care alternative.
- Demonstrated ability to anticipate, address and deescalate patient distress situations prior to patients loss of control as designed in their treatment plans.
