Career Center

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of diverse individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your diversity of culture, thinking, learning, and leading is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt's mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

HR TempForce

Job Summary:

Provides direct patient care utilizing developmentally appropriate therapeutic play and education while incorporating child life
interventions. Collaborates with other members of the health care team to insure that patients and families receive quality
psychosocial care. Provides ongoing education for staff, students, and volunteers as it relates to the developmental and
psychosocial needs of hospitalized and ill children.

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This is a temporary position scheduled to last until March 2024. The selected candidate will work a 50/50 split between the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) and Behavioral Health patients.

Key Responsibilities:

Child Life Specialist in PICU:

• Provide developmentally appropriate procedural preparation and support.
• Support developmental needs of patients.
• Assess developmental understanding of reason for admission and provide developmentally appropriate education as appropriate.
• Increase normalization of environment through bedside play and environmental modifications
• Provide emotional and coping support to patients facing critical care in short term and long-term capacities.
• Provide emotional and coping support to parents and caregivers in the ICU.
• Provide sibling support: bedside preparation and visit, supporting conversations around diagnosis or prognosis, supporting normalization of hospital environment through play.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary team on meeting patient needs (PT/OT, Social work, spiritual care, music therapy, nursing/ provider teams)
• Provide bereavement support through emotional support, meeting concrete needs, resource provision, sibling/ child relative support and memory making as assessed to be appropriate.

Child Life Specialist in Behavioral Health:

• Collaborate with primary behavioral health team (psychology, psychiatry, social work, safety team, medical providers) to best support patient and safety needs.
• Support normalization of hospital environment through play and activities within safety restrictions
• Advocate for individualized needs of patients
• Assess developmental needs of patient.
• Provide developmentally appropriate education to support patient understanding as appropriate.
• Support regulation and stabilization of patients
• Provide de-escalation support through developmentally appropriate strategies and intervention to support patient coping and safety.
• Provide developmentally appropriate procedural preparation and support.
• Respond to and support behavior emergency situations through BEST Codes response team.
• Provide emotional and coping support to family, caregivers, and siblings.
• Support transition to new facilities through preparation and coping strategy planning

TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES

HUMAN GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT (INTERMEDIATE):
- Demonstrates mastery of human growth and development in practical applications of a difficult nature. Possesses sufficient
knowledge, training, and experience to be capable of successfully delivering human growth and development services without
requiring support and instruction from others. Able to train and educate by setting the example, giving technical instruction,
providing leadership, and generally raising the level of performance of others while on the job.

EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION (INTERMEDIATE):
- Demonstrates mastery of emotional expression in practical applications of a difficult nature. Possesses sufficient knowledge,
training, and experience to be capable of successfully delivering emotional expression services without requiring support and
instruction from others. Able to train and educate by setting the example, giving technical instruction, providing leadership, and
generally raising the level of performance of others while on the job.

THERAPEUTIC PLAY (INTERMEDIATE):
- Demonstrates mastery of therapeutic play in practical applications of a difficult nature. Possesses sufficient knowledge,
training, and experience to be capable of successfully delivering therapeutic play services without requiring support and
instruction from others. Able to train and educate by setting the example, giving technical instruction, providing leadership, and
generally raising the level of performance of others while on the job.

FACILITATION OF POSITIVE COPING STRATEGIES (INTERMEDIATE):
- Demonstrates mastery of facilitation of positive coping strategies in practical applications of a difficult nature. Possesses
sufficient knowledge, training, and experience to be capable of successfully delivering facilitation services without requiring
support and instruction from others. Able to train and educate by setting the example, giving technical instruction, providing
leadership, and generally raising the level of performance of others while on the job.

CORE ACCOUNTABILITIES
Organizational Impact: Delivers job responsibilities that impact own job area/team with some guidance.
Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Uses existing procedures, research and analysis to solve standard job related
problems that may require some judgement.
Breadth of Knowledge: Requires subject matter knowledge within a professional area to meet job requirements.
Team Interaction: Individually contributes to project/ work teams.

CORE CAPABILITIES
SUPPORTING COLLEAGUES (P1):
- Develops Self and Others: Continuously improves own skills by identifying development opportunities.
- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Seeks to understand colleagues' priorities, working styles and develops relationships across
areas.
- Communicates Effectively: Openly shares information with others and communicates in a clear and courteous manner.

DELIVERING EXCELLENT SERVICES (P1):
- Serves Others with Compassion: Invests time to understand the problems, needs of others and how to provide excellent
service.
- Solves Complex Problems: Seeks to understand issues, solves routine problems, and raises proper concerns to supervisors in a
timely manner.
- Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Listens carefully to understand the issues and provides accurate information and
support.

ENSURING HIGH QUALITY (P1):
- Performs Excellent Work: Checks work quality before delivery and asks relevant questions to meet quality standards.
- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Shows eagerness to learn new knowledge, technologies, tools or systems and displays
willingness to go above and beyond.
- Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Demonstrates basic knowledge of conditions that affect safety and reports unsafe
conditions to the appropriate person or department.

MANAGING RESOURCES EFFECTIVELY (P1):
- Demonstrates Accountability: Takes responsibility for completing assigned activities and thinks beyond standard approaches to
provide high-quality work/service.
- Stewards Organizational Resources: Displays understanding of how personal actions will impact departmental resources.
- Makes Data Driven Decisions: Uses accurate information and good decision making to consistently achieve results on time and
without error.

FOSTERING INNOVATION (P1):
- Generates New Ideas: Willingly proposes/accepts ideas or initiatives that will impact day-to-day operations by offering
suggestions to enhance them.
- Applies Technology: Absorbs new technology quickly; understands when to utilize the appropriate tools and procedures to
ensure proper course of action.
- Adapts to Change: Embraces change by keeping an open mind to changing plans and incorporates change instructions into own
area of work.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent experience) (Required)
< 1 year experience (Required)
Certified Child Life Specialist (Required/ Eligible for certification )

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS/STRENGTHS NEEDED & PHYSICAL DEMANDS
"Light Work" category requiring exertion up to 20 lbs. of force occasionally and uses negligible amounts of force to move
objects.
Movement
Occasional: Sitting: Remaining in seated position
Occasional: Standing: Remaining on one's feet without moving.

Occasional: Walking: Moving about on foot.
Occasional: Lifting under 35 lbs: Raising and lowering objects under 35 lbs from one level to another
Occasional: Lifting over 35 lbs: Raising and lowering objects from one level to another, includes upward pulling over 35 lbs,
with help of coworkers or assistive device
Occasional: Carrying under 35 lbs: Transporting an object holding in hands, arms or shoulders, with help of coworkers or
assistive device.
Occasional: Push/Pull: Exerting force to move objects away from or toward.
Occasional: Bending/Stooping: Trunk bending downward and forward by bending spine at waist requiring full use of lower
extremities and back muscles
Occasional: Balancing: Maintaining body equilibrium to prevent falling when walking, standing, crouching or maneuvering
self, patient and equipment simultaneously while working in large and small spaces
Occasional: Climbing: Ascending or descending stairs/ramps using feet and legs and/or hands and arms.
Occasional: Kneeling:Bending legs at knees to come to rest on knee or knees.
Occasional: Crouching/Squatting: Bending body downward and forward by bending legs and spine.Reaching above
shoulders: Extending arms in any direction above shoulders.
Occasional: Reaching above shoulders: Extending arms in any direction above shoulders.
Occasional: Reaching below shoulders: Extending arms in any direction below shoulders.
Occasional: Handling: Seizing, holding, grasping, turning or otherwise working with hand or hands.
Occasional: Fingering: Picking, pinching, gripping, working primarily with fingers requiring fine manipulation.
Sensory
Occasional: Vision: Clarity of near vision at 20 inches or less and far vision at 20 feet or more with depth perception,
peripheral vision, color vision.
Continuous: Communication: Expressing or exchanging written/verbal/electronic information.
Continuous: Auditory: Perceiving the variances of sounds, tones and pitches and able to focus on single source of auditory
information
Continuous: Smell: Ability to detect and identify odors.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer and adheres to the parameters of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended, we will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and
encourage both prospective and current employees to discuss potential reasonable accommodations with us.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center TempForce (TempForce) was created to connect temporary talent to areas throughout the Medical Center. TempForce places diverse and skilled personnel to departments across the Medical Center. In any given year, TempForce fills a wide variety of temporary requests including pharmacists, administrative/clerical roles, medical assistants and more.

We support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at VUMC for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose.

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:

Certified Child Life Specialist - Certification - Others

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level:

Less than 1 year

Education:

High School Diploma or GED

Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. EOE/AA/Women/Minority/Vets/Disabled