Physical Therapist (Supervisory)

This position is located within the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service (PM&RS) of the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona, PA. At this level, the incumbent is responsible for the development and continued operation of effective and progressive Physical Therapy department programs. The incumbent is responsible for clinical supervision of a team of Physical Therapist & Physical Therapy Assistants, under the direction of the Service Chief of PM&RS.

Qualifications:

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency: Individuals appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C. chapters 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA must be proficient in written and spoken English. See Chapter 2, section D, paragraph 5a, this part.
• Education and experience. The individual must meet at least one of the requirements below:
  • Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy AND five (5) years of progressively independent experience as a physical therapist.
  • Master's degree in Physical Therapy AND two (2) years of progressively independent experience as a physical therapist.
  • Doctorate degree in physical therapy.
  • Foreign Graduates. Graduates of foreign physical therapy programs meet the requirements in subparagraph 3b if they have a full unrestricted and current license to practice physical therapy in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia.
• Licensure. Individuals hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice physical therapy in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations: GS-13 Supervisory Physical Therapist

• Experience: In addition to meeting the basic requirements, one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Experience includes but not limited to: independently providing assessment and treatment interventions to inpatients and outpatients. Performing examinations and evaluations of individuals who have or may develop impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions related to conditions of the musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and/or integumentary systems. Establish a diagnosis within the scope of physical therapy and identify the appropriate intervention. Selecting appropriate equipment needed to substitute for loss of function or to substitute for limited function. Making recommendations and referrals to other medical specialties/services as clinically needed.

AND

• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to meeting the basic requirements and the experience as listed above, the candidate must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA)
  • Knowledge of contemporary physical therapy across multiple areas of practice, and the demonstrated ability to apply this knowledge to provide clinical guidance to Staff PTs within the department.
  • Knowledge of human resources administration, including such functions as the ability to interview and select qualified applicants, monitor and evaluate performance, and maintain effective labor management relations within scope of responsibility.
  • Ability to effectively supervise, direct, and manage a diverse physical therapy staff.
  • Skill in forging positive interpersonal relationships and conflict resolution.
  • Ability to analyze clinically appropriate data effectively to optimize quality, performance, and productivity within the section.
  • Ability to set priorities, delegate tasks, and solve problems in order to meet multiple deadlines and identify/address organizational problems.
  • Ability to manage advocacy roles and planning activities within the VA and the greater rehabilitation community.

Preferred Experience: Greater than 7 years working as a full time clinical Physical Therapist, with a minimum of 5 years of supervisory experience over an interdisciplinary team of 20 healthcare professional employees in the department. Additionally, clinical experience in 2 or more settings of care (e.g., home health, acute, long-term care, outpatient, short term rehab, etc.); Education and/or Clinical Research experience preferred.

Physical Requirements: Work includes regular and recurring physical excretion, with long periods of standing, bending, kneeling, walking, reaching, gripping, sitting, twisting, pulling or pushing carts with inventories or activities involving retrieving items from shelves and cabinets. and patient transfers. Moderate to heavy lifting is often required. The position demands significant physical stress and strain such as lifting patients, crouching and crawling on mats, and occasionally defending him/herself against combative patient assigned to the incumbent. The work involves moderate risks or discomforts requiring normal safety precautions typical of a hospital setting. Employees will be required to follow universal infection control precautions that may include having to "gown and glove" when providing treatment to patients. Sitting at meetings, desks or computer terminals for documentation purposes is also required. Operation and driving of a motor vehicle is also required. The incumbent of the position will meet and maintain physical and drug test program requirements for the position as required. Due to the complexity of the work, the multiplicity of the projects at any one time, deadlines, and duties, the job requires a high level of energy, and may be psychologically stressful at times.

Responsibilities:

VA Careers - Physical Therapy: https://youtube.com/embed/Gi2hoFqIoqY

Major Duties:

• The incumbent develops plans, coordinates, evaluates and integrates all program elements into comprehensive physical therapy programs for the VA facility, including management and coordination of schedules and programs. He/she adapts schedules to meet unscheduled treatments when situation arises.
• The incumbent triages consults and assigns patient caseload. Identifies, collects and analyzes appropriate patient care information to provide a data base to support Performance Improvement projects related to assigned clinic and/or specialty area.
• The incumbent conducts meetings, with staff; and coordinates patient care due to unexpected provider absences to ensure adequate patient care coverage.
• The incumbent investigates and reports complaints and takes effective corrective action when necessary. Identifies and resolves interpersonal or professional conflicts when dealing with veterans and members of the Team.
• The incumbent provides physical therapy program oversight, coordination, and performance improvement activities and outcome measures including workload reports and service level scorecards.
• The incumbent is the primary advisor concerning physical therapy patient care services and its integration with other facility services, and assists with developing both short and long range objectives for continuous improvements with provision of these services.
• The incumbent develops and/or updates and implements appropriate policies, procedures, plans, and service agreements that guide and support the physical therapy programs.
• The incumbent develops requests for program space, staffing, equipment, and supplies, to be sent to the Service Chief of PM&RS.
• The incumbent develops and implements an educational plan to meet challenges of the program for self and others. The incumbent mentors assigned support staff to promote staff development and organizational training; serves as liaison between staff and the Service Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services.
• The incumbent provides orientation to new staff and students to assigned clinics.
• The incumbent coordinates and establishes and maintains professional relationships with other interdisciplinary services and collaborates with establishing service level agreements affecting the patient referral process.
• The incumbent supervises the Physical Therapy Department. Guides and manages clinics in respect to training, performance, conduct, and patient welfare. Assures the cleanliness, maintenance, repairs, and successful operation of all Physical Therapy equipment, treatment, treatment areas, and operational supplies. Assigns Work. Approves supervisee' time-off requests. Writes and implements supervisee's performance plans based upon VHA's, VAMC's and PM&RS performance measures and monitors. Reviews supervisees' performance and provides rating.
• Develops, plans and implements monitors of quality of care, in conjunction with Service Chief of PM&RS with respect to Physical Therapy service as part of the comprehensive health care services and performance measures delivered to the patient within the medical center. Actively supports and promotes all programs of the PM&R service. Conducts record keeping related to patient documentation and quality improvement (QI) data collection as specified by the Service Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service.
• Responsible for timely Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and Minimum Data Set (MOS) data entry as per download deadlines and within timeframes established for documentation. Responsible for collection and reporting of QI data as requested by the Service Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service. Demonstrates advanced competency in knowledge of electronic documentation and computer skills

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Compressed/Flexible:Not Available
Telework: Ad-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required