Occupational Therapist

At Duke Health, we're driven by a commitment to compassionate care that changes the lives of patients, their loved ones, and the greater community. No matter where your talents lie, join us and discover how we can advance health together.

Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital

Pursue your passion for caring with Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital in Mooresville, North Carolina. The smallest of the four Duke Health hospitals at 123-beds, it offers a comprehensive range of medical services, including 24-hour emergency care, cardiology, orthopedics, women's services, and surgical specialties.

Summary & Work Performed

Develop, improve, or restore skills in activities of daily living, work or productive activities and play or leisure. Intervention involves therapeutic use of meaningful and purposeful occupations, adaptation of environments, promotion of health and wellness, graded tasks and activities as prerequisites to engagement in occupations, design, fabrication, application or training in the use of assistive technology or orthotic/prosthetic devices, application of physical agent modalities and application of ergonomic principles to the performance of occupations. Serve as a resource person for the team and department; participates in orientation of new staff therapists, physicians and other health personnel.

The senior participates in teaching activities for occupational therapy and other health related students.

• Demonstrate and articulate sound clinical reasoning in synthesizing complex evaluation data identifying diagnosis and developing a comprehensive plan of care.
• Develop and update appropriate plan of care in collaboration with the patient/family and related to the person's age and lifestyle with measurable long and short term goals and a defined D/C plan. 
• Understand the role of occupational therapy in the context of the patient's age, total needs perspective and environment.
• Select and administer appropriate assessment and treatment techniques.
• Perform age appropriate competency skills in area of practice and with respect to individual patient's problems. 
• Follow intervention protocols and revise interventions appropriately.
• Discharge patient when goals have been met or medical necessity is no longer indicated.
• Establish provisions for continuing services/follow up as needed. 
• Meet competency skills for evaluations in area of practice.
• Consistently meet patient care productivity standard as established for job classification.
• Work cooperatively with supervisors and peers to contribute to the overall productivity of the team. 
• Utilize support personnel (aides, senior aides, assistants) as appropriate and available.
• Actively support and participate in patient coverage efforts across all divisions within the department as necessary.
• Assess the learning needs and capabilities of patients and caregivers. Initiate patient and family education in a timely manner relative to age, LOS, readiness to learn, and emotional status. 
• Utilize appropriate methods andmaterials for effective learning, monitoring response to education, and adapting program appropriately.
• Ensure that patient/family understands when and how to access further intervention.
• Patient care documentation is timely, legible, and efficient. 
• Documentation is concise, pertinent and meets the professions and departments documentation standards.
• Oral reporting is clear, concise, relevant, and timely. 
• Perform all required data collection for the department accurately and within expected time frame.
• Peer review standards are consistently met. 
• Collaborate effectively with other members of the health care team. 
• Take one to two students for short-term clinical rotation.
• Adjust supervisory techniques for individual students' needs.
• Provide in-services on clinical education attended. 
• Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to push-pull, lift-carry, and transfer patients.

Level Characteristics

• See Clinical Ladder administration document
• See departmental criteria for clinical ladder advancement eligibility. 

Minimum Qualifications & Education

• Bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy required, with Master's degree preferred.

Experience

• None beyond required education, although more experience may be preferred at times.

Degrees, Licensures, Certifications

• Current Occupational Therapy license in North Carolina.

Duke is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy related conditions), sexual orientation or military status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions:

Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.