Physical Therapist

Where You’ll Work

Founded in 1941, Dignity Health - Dominican Hospital is a 188-bed, acute care, nonprofit hospital located in Santa Cruz, California. Serving over 80,000 patients annually, the hospital offers a full complement of services including heart care, orthopedics, and a Family Birthing Center. Additionally, Dominican Hospital has been recognized as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality High Performer by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. It is a Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Center, and has been awarded the AMA/ASA’s Get the Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement, recognizing the hospital’s commitment to providing the best stroke care.

One Community. One Mission. One California 

Job Summary and Responsibilities

As our Physical Therapist, you will help patients rebuild or maintain their physical wellbeing so they can function at their best level, reduce pain, and improve their quality of life.

Every day you will perform initial evaluations, develop and update individualized plans of care, and provide a variety of direct treatments. You will be expected to consistently meet patient care productivity standards, collaborate with the interdisciplinary team and families, and promote a positive customer service environment.

To be successful in this role, you will possess strong age-appropriate competency skills, excellent communication abilities, and a collaborative, patient-centered approach to care.

• Evaluations: Are completed according to department protocol. Completed within 48 hours once evaluation has been initiated. All relevant areas are thoroughly completed. Appropriate goals are set relative to the patient's prior level of function. Treatment plan is relevant to patient's problems identified. Patient/family participates in treatment plan and in setting goals.
• Provides Effective and Adequate Treatment: Implements effective and adequate treatment following department guidelines. Ongoing assessment of treatment effectiveness. Goals and treatment are modified as appropriate in relation to working toward goals. Selects appropriate treatment interventions. Utilizes specialized techniques. 
• Patient/Family Education and Training: Addresses patient/family education. Demonstrates a variety of teaching methods. Methods are appropriate to the level of understanding. Education is timely (initiated when patient/family capable of learning) and need is identified with action taken to initiate training. Content is comprehensive-all aspects of care, including safety.
• Documentation: Complies with department policy regarding documentation. Completed in a timely manner according to department policy. Concise, legible, correct grammar using medical terminology and approved abbreviations. Reflects all interventions used in treatment, all ongoing assessment of treatment effectiveness, and changes in goals and treatment plan as appropriate. 
• Communication & Collaboration with Team/MD: Appropriately communicates treatment plan and patient status with team and MD with no more than 1 complaint per year. Participates in team conferences. Addresses verification of payor guidelines/authorization as needed, in a timely manner (i.e., prior to scheduling/treating patient or obtaining equipment. 
• Delegates to and Supervises Others: Delegates to and supervises support staff and students in achieving desired outcomes with no more than 1 complaint per year. Delegates appropriately to support staff within licensure and practice standards.

Job Requirements

Required

• Bachelors Other, Physical Therapy upon hire or
• Masters Other, Physical Therapy upon hire or
• Doctor of Science, Physical Therapy upon hire and
• Active Physical Therapist license in the State of California
• Basic Life Support (BLS) from the American Heart Association

Preferred

• One year experience as a physical therapist in physical disabilities setting, preferably in acute care or acute rehab