Physical Therapist (PT) Acute Care TempForce
Listed compensation
$75/hr
The week · per this postingWeekdays only
Ask the employer about the work setting, call expectations and time off.
Job Description
Discover Vanderbilt Health: With eight hospitals and over 180 clinics, we are the region’s largest comprehensive academic health system.
Vanderbilt Health has a long tradition of providing world-class care to the people of the Mid-South, living out our mission of moving medicine forward through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research.
Here you’ll find a spirit of collaboration and a supportive community where your expertise is valued, your knowledge expanded and your uniqueness celebrated.
We are committed to fostering an environment where talented, compassionate people are united in bringing the most advanced care to our neighbors throughout the region.
Organization
Acute Rehab PT/OT 3
Job Summary
Provides physical therapy services to patients who have impairments, functional limitations, disabilities, or changes in physical function and health status resulting from injury, disease or other causes under occasional guidance. Actively collaborates with the health care/educational team to meet patient care, outcomes and system improvement objectives..
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center | Nashville, TN
- $75/Hour | Full-Time | 13-Week Assignment
- 40 Hours Per Week | Day Shift
- Weekend Requirements Negotiable
- Acute Care Physical Therapist Opportunity at a Leading Academic Medical Center
Are you an experienced Physical Therapist (PT) seeking a high-paying acute care opportunity in a nationally recognized academic medical center?
Join Vanderbilt Health TempForce for a 13-week assignment supporting one of the country's premier Acute Care Rehabilitation programs. This position offers competitive compensation, valuable hospital experience, a streamlined hiring process, and the opportunity to work with highly complex medical and surgical patient populations.
As an Acute Care Physical Therapist, you will collaborate with physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, case managers, and rehabilitation specialists to improve patient mobility, safety, functional independence, and discharge outcomes.
Why Vanderbilt Health?
At Vanderbilt University Hospital, you'll gain experience in a world-class healthcare environment that includes:
- Nationally recognized Level I Trauma Center
- One of the nation's largest and busiest transplant programs
- Advanced specialties including critical care, neurosciences, cardiovascular medicine, surgery, and specialty medicine
- An Acute Care Rehabilitation team of approximately 130 rehabilitation professionals
- A collaborative culture that empowers therapists to practice at the top of their license
Position Details
- 13-week TempForce assignment
- Full-time schedule, 40 hours per week
- Five 8-hour day shifts
- 30-minute meal break
- Schedule determined by department needs
- Weekend requirements negotiable
- Potential extension opportunities for up to one year
- Opportunity to transition into a permanent Vanderbilt Health position
What You'll Need
- Required Qualifications
- Tennessee Physical Therapist license or eligibility for licensure
- Current BLS certification
- Minimum two years of Physical Therapist experience
- At least one year of recent Adult Acute Care experience
Preferred Qualifications
- Two or more years of Adult Acute Care experience in a Level I Trauma Center
- Experience treating medically complex, surgical, ICU, and progressive care patient populations
- Productivity Expectations
- Approximately 7 patient visits per day
- Approximately 11 billable procedures daily
- Expectations may vary based on patient complexity, acuity, and clinical needs
- Fast, Streamlined Hiring Process
- Apply online and upload your current resume.
- Connect with a recruiter via phone or text.
- Participate in a virtual interview with rehabilitation leadership.
- Receive timely feedback, often within 48 hours of the interview.
- Our goal is to complete the interview and hiring process within two weeks whenever possible.
Apply Today
If you're an experienced Acute Care Physical Therapist, Hospital Physical Therapist, or Travel PT looking for a rewarding short-term assignment with exceptional clinical exposure, we encourage you to apply and join the Vanderbilt Health team.
Key Responsibilities
Analyzes comprehensive information from formal and informal assessment that is pertinent to the patient's care and management to determine a rehabilitation treatment diagnosis.
Collaborates with stakeholders in establishing the plan of care, coordinates and implements care delivery while anticipating patient care needs across the rehabilitation continuum.
Applies appropriate, evidence-based interventions to ensure effective outcomes and re-evaluates performance to assess patient's progress towards goals.
- Employs strategies to promote successful return to home, community, and school/vocational environments.
- The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.
Technical Capabilities
Treatment Planning & Goal Setting (Novice): Demonstrates sufficient proficiency in developing a plan of care that incorporates treatment interventions focused on meeting objective goals. Develops and documents patient focused short and long term goals that are functional and measurable. Identifies the need for and referral to other services, as needed.
Rehabilitation Therapist Patient Evaluation (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in evaluating patients with physical deficits including impairments, developmental disabilities, functional limitations, disabilities, or changes in physical function by obtaining information pertinent to the assessment and administering and scoring standardized tests and objective measures of deficit areas.
Selects appropriate measures and performs a functional assessment to document patient's status requiring skilled therapy. Interprets the results of the assessment and their significance to the patient, family, referring physician and other members of the health care team.
Treatment Implementation (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in providing treatment consistent with physician prescription and established plan of care.
Able to modify treatment plan as needed to demonstrate provision of skilled therapy services including progression of treatment throughout course of care, and revision of treatment interventions of goals not met.
May supervise and direct certified athletic trainers (PT only), physical therapist / occupational therapist assistants, technicians and volunteers and students. Selects and follows correct protocol for care and utilize evidence based treatments. Has completed at least one year of clinical experience in treatment implementation.
Physical/Occupational Therapist Patient Education (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in communicating functional impact of assessment findings, treatment interventions, treatment planning diagnosis, and disease process. Considers the communication needs/level of understanding of audience and may share appropriate information/literature. May supervise, educate and train students from professional programs of physical therapy, occupational therapy and athletic training.
Rehab Therapist Patient Documentation (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in documentation practices. Documents in the appropriate templates and utilizes only approved abbreviations within patient documentation. Meets institutional standards for quality and timeliness of documentation.
Core Accountabilities
Organizational Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment. Breadth of Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area. Team Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.
Core Capabilities
Supporting Colleagues:- Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.- Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences.
Delivering Excellent Services:- Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.- Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.- Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness.
Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring.
Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.- Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.- Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities.
Fostering Innovation:- Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.- Applies Technolo
Requirements
Requires a Tennessee Physical Therapist license, current BLS certification, and at least one year of recent adult acute care experience. A bachelor's degree in physical therapy is mandatory, with a minimum of two years of total professional experience preferred.
Qualifications
- Education
- Bachelor degree
- Experience
- 2+ years of experience
Key Skills
Work-Life Balance Analysis
WeekdayDoc's proprietary algorithm rates Physical Therapist (PT) Acute Care TempForce at VUMC a 6.4 out of 10 for work-life balance — classified as good. This places the position in the Above average in Physical Therapy — ranked against 21,853 active Physical Therapy listings on WeekdayDoc. Contributing factors include no weekend requirements, no night shifts.
Physical Therapist Career Context
In Tennessee, the Physical Therapy weighted monthly median benchmark on WeekdayDoc is ~$87k (42 salary observations; 214 listings), vs ~$93k nationally (2,380 salary observations; 8,217 listings). Monthly aggregates cover 2026-01-01 through 2026-09-01; these are not the modal's selected comparable-job medians.
Of the 50 active Physical Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 44% have no call, 62% require no weekends.
Physical Therapy pay on WeekdayDoc is up 1.0% vs. the prior quarter (through Sep 2026).
The cost-of-living index for Tennessee is 91.9 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)), so the posted ~$156k midpoint carries the purchasing power of roughly $170k in an average-cost state. 58.6% of Tennessee clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).
Location & Logistics
Tennessee has no state income tax, which can significantly increase take-home pay compared to high-tax states. At the posted ~$156k midpoint, that is roughly $6k–$11k a year versus a typical 4–7% state rate.
Top Physical Therapist Jobs
36 matches · ranked by paySalary Distribution36 jobs · 20 employers
Annual compensation range
Benefits & Perks36 jobs · 20 employers
Share of similar jobs offering each benefit
Physical Therapist
Amedisys · Bellevue, Washington
Physical Therapist (PT) Home Health | $150,000 Annual Salary (Redding)
Home Care Providers Group · Yuba City, California
Physical Therapist (New Grad Mentor Program) - Brookfield, CT
$70k-$120kPhysical Therapist (New Grad Mentor Program) - Norwalk, CT
$70k-$120k