Speech Therapist

Founded in 1873, Dignity Health - Mercy Medical Center is a 186-bed, acute care, nonprofit hospital located in Merced, California. Serving over 150,000 patients annually, the hospital offers a full complement of services including a Level II NICU, heart care, the Mercy Cancer Center, and a family birth center. Additionally, Merced Medical Center has been recognized as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality High Performer by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and is a Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Center.

One Community. One Mission. One California 

As our Speech Therapist, you will provide essential evaluation and therapeutic management for patients with speech, language, and/or cognitive disorders, improving communication, cognitive function, and quality of life.

Every day you will conduct comprehensive assessments, develop individualized treatment plans, implement interventions, and monitor progress. You'll educate patients/families on strategies and goals, document encounters, and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.

To be successful, you will demonstrate strong clinical evaluation and therapeutic management skills. Excellent communication for patient/family rapport and team collaboration, a commitment to evidence-based practice, and patient advocacy are essential.

• Assessment: 
  Assesses functional skills, reasoning, skills, memory skills, and reading/writing skills.
• Planning:
  Plans and develops care plans according to accepted national therapy practice standards and age-related issues. Evaluates progress and appropriateness that is consistent with established goals-outcomes. 
• Intervention
  Performs swallowing evaluations to determine safety in oral foods, appropriate consistency, and swallowing capacity. Performs modified barium swallows (fluoroscopic). Provides therapeutic exercises, word-finding/matching tasks, and oralmotor facial exercises.
• Leadership
  Educates the nursing staff, patient,, and family/caregiver in speech/language exercises, feeding precautions, and diet recommendations . Offers in-services to the hospital departments as requested and approved by Director. Open to taking CFY speech pathologists, Assure compliance with the patient plan of care and applicable licensing/JCAHO standards.
• HIPPA
  Basic expectations of the Employee based upon Corporate HIPAA Compliance: Patient Privacy: Demonstrates work place practices that maintain patient privacy and confidentiality. Consistently follows regulatory, JCAHO, Dignity Health, and Hospital policy requirements relating to the disclosure of and/or access to Protected Health Information (PHI) and sensitive information. Review Network Usage Policy and signed acknowledgement form annually. 
• Attendance
  Ensures optimum operation of the department through good attendance history and flexibility with assigned shift. Is on time for scheduled shift.

Required

• Masters Other or equivalent in speech-language pathology from an accredited educational institution., upon hire and
• Speech Language Pathologist: CA, upon hire and
• American Heart Association Basic Life Support - CPR, upon hire
• Clinical Competence in Speech Language Pathology, upon hire

Preferred

• Home health experience and Pediatric experience