Therapy Aide - Occupational Therapy

The Therapy Aide assists in all aspects of direct and in-direct delivery of care to our patients. Under the direction of the Director of the Department, the Therapy Aide performs tasks as delegated by the therapist, chief(s) or director. Major duties include: Assisting the therapist with scheduling of patients, updating potential referrals from surgery schedule, creating scheduling tags for new referrals, transcribing the schedule, distributing schedules to the nursing units, set-up, clean up and assisting with patient treatment, departmental and equipment cleaning and maintenance, stocking linen and supplies, clerical functions, effective communication/documentation, and activities as directed.

Essential Duties:

• Orient new staff and registry to various forms required on a daily basis (billing, time logs, etc).
• Keeps forms current in area of practice.
• Aide assists PT/OT in care per policy communicates during treatment with therapist regarding patients’ responses and assist level during treatment.
• Completes daily schedules by time frames required in each area.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Organizes patient/treatment area independently before treatment begins and attends to set-up for patients needs after treatment.
• Employee manages all assigned aide responsibilities (i.e. Daily temperature logs, equip check list, cleaning of gym).
• Assists PT/OT when scheduled as per scheduled time, seeks and provides information related to the treatment plan.
• Employee assumes responsibility for a special project as assigned by Department Director/Supervisor.
• Able to locate surgery schedule and create tags for possible admits or determine rehab admits and assign to a team.
• Wound Care: Assist PT when scheduled as per scheduled time, seeks and provides information related to the treatment plan. Able to gather all supplies needed and set up a clean filed. Able to correctly prepare, drape and position the patient for treatment. Organizes patient/room independently before treatment begins and attends to room set-up for patients needs after treatment.
• Employee attends to ordering supplies based upon department needs/requirements.
• Employee manages aspects of scheduling that include documenting schedules, listing expected admits and keeping tags updated.
• Employee manages all clerical aspects of job based upon area of practice.
• Outpatient: Pulls charts for next business day, ensures that appropriate documentation is in chart and prepared correctly (i.e- stamped with date on progress note, all documentation forms have patient name/acct #, etc.) ensures that prescription and authorization is current and if not, brings to attention of front office staff. Independently preps discharged charts (i.e – Acct# and name on all documents, no staples, no paper clips) for scanning by medical records).
• Add cues to patients to facilitate treatment.

Required Qualifications:

• Req Demonstrate excellent customer service behavior.
• Req High school or equivalent
• Req Proficient computer skills in Microsoft Word as well as Internet access and utilization.
• Req Demonstrates knowledge and skills necessary to assist therapists in providing care appropriate to adolescent, adult and geriatric patients.
• Req Ability to communicate effectively in English both verbally and in writing.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Pref Bachelor's degree Degree in a related field

• Pref 6 - 12 months Volunteer or paid experience in a Rehabilitation setting (either in a hospital or private practice).

Required Licenses/Certifications:

• Req Basic Life Support (BLS) Healthcare Provider from American Heart Association
• Req Fire Life Safety Training (LA City) If no card upon hire, one must be obtained within 30 days of hire and maintained by renewal before expiration date. (Required within LA City only)

The hourly rate range for this position is $19.50 - $33.15. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.