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:

Hearing And Speech

Job Summary:

JOB SUMMARY
Evaluates and treats patients with speech, language, voice, cognition, fluency, auditory (re)habilitation, and swallowing/oral feeding disorders. Educates and counsels patients and families. Provides independent therapeutic services and identify area(s) of clinical specialization and competency. Supervises graduate students as assigned in clinical specialty area. Participates actively in identifying and conducting quality improvement activities. Collaborates with clinical practice team to achieve patient outcomes and system objectives.

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Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) - Pediatric Acute Care PRN

Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt – Nashville, TN
Department: Pediatric Rehabilitation Services
Schedule: PRN / Flexible (Weekdays and Weekends)

Job Summary

Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt is seeking a Pediatric Acute Care Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) on a PRN basis to provide feeding therapy, swallowing therapy, dysphagia management, speech-language services, and pediatric rehabilitation for infants, children, and adolescents across inpatient and outpatient settings.

This role supports medically complex pediatric populations, including infants with feeding difficulties, dysphagia, tracheostomies, traumatic brain injuries, developmental and communication disorders, and children requiring Video Fluoroscopic Swallow Studies (VFSS). Opportunities may include collaboration with NICU, PICU, pediatric acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and outpatient specialty programs.

If you're passionate about helping children overcome feeding, swallowing, and communication challenges while working alongside nationally recognized pediatric specialists, we'd love to hear from you.

Why This Opportunity Stands Out

This is an opportunity to practice at the top of your license within one of the nation's leading children's hospitals. PRN therapists gain exposure to medically complex feeding and swallowing cases, interdisciplinary care teams, advanced pediatric rehabilitation services, and specialized clinical experiences not commonly available in many healthcare settings.

You'll work alongside experienced pediatric physicians, therapists, nurses, and rehabilitation professionals committed to delivering exceptional outcomes for children and families.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide pediatric speech-language, feeding, swallowing, and dysphagia therapy across inpatient and outpatient settings.
• Evaluate and treat medically complex infants and children with feeding, communication, cognitive-linguistic, and swallowing disorders.
• Perform assessment and treatment of pediatric dysphagia and feeding disorders.
• Participate in Video Fluoroscopic Swallow Studies (VFSS) as appropriate.
• Collaborate with physicians, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and interdisciplinary care teams.
• Develop individualized plans of care and establish meaningful functional goals.
• Document evaluations, treatment plans, patient progress, and outcomes in the electronic medical record.
• Educate patients, families, and caregivers regarding feeding strategies, swallowing safety, communication development, and home programming.
• Support discharge planning and continuity of care across settings.

Ideal Candidate

We are seeking an experienced Pediatric CCC-SLP with expertise in feeding and swallowing evaluation and treatment who enjoys caring for medically complex infants and children in a collaborative hospital environment.

Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Speech-Language Pathology
• Tennessee SLP license or eligibility for licensure
• ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-SLP)
• Pediatric feeding and swallowing experience required
• Dysphagia evaluation and treatment experience required
• VFSS experience preferred
• Pediatric hospital, acute care, NICU, PICU, or inpatient rehabilitation experience preferred
• Strong interdisciplinary collaboration and communication skills
• Availability for PRN weekday and weekend shifts

Why Vanderbilt Health

• Practice at Tennessee's No. 1 Children's Hospital
• Join a nationally recognized pediatric rehabilitation and feeding/swallowing program
• Flexible PRN scheduling with weekday and weekend opportunities
• Work alongside highly specialized pediatric rehabilitation professionals
• Access pediatric specialty training and continuing education opportunities
• Gain exposure to complex acute care, feeding, swallowing, and rehabilitation cases
• Work in Nashville, Tennessee, on a vibrant academic medical campus dedicated to innovation, education, and exceptional patient care

How to Apply

Apply today to join Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt and help children thrive through expert pediatric feeding, swallowing, dysphagia, communication, and rehabilitation services.

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.
• Supervises graduate students by providing instruction, guidance/counsel and training to ensure provision of competent patient care and completion of appropriate documentation.
• The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.

TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES
• 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.
• Speech Pathology Patient & Family 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 speech-language pathology.
• Discharge Planning (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in the discharge planning process. Informs patients, family and members of team of the patient's needs based upon the assessment and/or treatment. Makes recommendations for continued services, follow-up, or referrals to other services. Seeks guidance consistently on the transition and discharge process including transition services and referral resources. May anticipate transition and discharge needs of the patient based upon understanding of pathology/diagnosis and relationship to their present functional status. Will have completed at least one year of experience with transition and discharge planning.
• Speech Pathology Treatment Implementation (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency providing treatment consistent with physician prescription and established plan of care. Identifies treatment objectives based upon assessment results and family input. Writes functional objectives in measurable terms that are consistent with the family's goals and resources. Applies evidence based clinical management practices. Identifies and recommends additional/alternative services when appropriate.
• Speech Pathology Patient Evaluation (Novice): Demonstrates proficiency in evaluating patients with speech-language, auditory, and/or swallowing/oral feeding deficits using the appropriate testing methods and equipment for the patient type, diagnosis, and reason for the referral. Demonstrates the ability to obtain the case history and 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 for the patient, family, referring physician and other members of the health care team.

Allied health is among the fastest growing occupations in healthcare today. This area can be defined as credentialed professionals who perform supportive, diagnostic, and therapeutic health care services to promote health and prevent disease in a variety of settings.

These areas are crucial to Vanderbilt Health’s reputation for excellence in these areas that has made us a major center for patient referrals from throughout the Mid-South.

Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the southeast choose Vanderbilt Health for their health care because of our leadership in medical science and our dedication to treating patients with dignity and compassion.

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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 Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges.- Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications:

LIC-Speech Pathologist - Tennessee

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level :

1 year

Education:

Master's

This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well-being and professional growth.

Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity.  EOE/Vets/Disabled.