Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians

Tasks

Core Tasks Include:

• Instruct interns and residents in the diagnosis and treatment of temporary or permanent physically disabling conditions.
• Conduct physical tests, such as functional capacity evaluations, to determine injured workers' capabilities to perform the physical demands of their jobs.
• Assess characteristics of patients' pain, such as intensity, location, or duration, using standardized clinical measures.
• Monitor effectiveness of pain management interventions, such as medication or spinal injections.
• Examine patients to assess mobility, strength, communication, or cognition.
• Document examination results, treatment plans, and patients' outcomes.
• Diagnose or treat performance-related conditions, such as sports injuries or repetitive-motion injuries.
• Develop comprehensive plans for immediate and long-term rehabilitation, including therapeutic exercise, speech and occupational therapy, counseling, cognitive retraining, patient, family or caregiver education, or community reintegration.
• Prescribe physical therapy to relax the muscles and improve strength.
• Coordinate physical medicine and rehabilitation services with other medical activities.
• Consult or coordinate with other rehabilitative professionals, including physical and occupational therapists, rehabilitation nurses, speech pathologists, neuropsychologists, behavioral psychologists, social workers, or medical technicians.
• Perform electrodiagnosis, including electromyography, nerve conduction studies, or somatosensory evoked potentials of neuromuscular disorders or damage.
• Prescribe therapy services, such as electrotherapy, ultrasonography, heat or cold therapy, hydrotherapy, debridement, short-wave or microwave diathermy, and infrared or ultraviolet radiation, to enhance rehabilitation.
• Prescribe orthotic and prosthetic applications and adaptive equipment, such as wheelchairs, bracing, or communication devices, to maximize patient function and self-sufficiency.
• Provide inpatient or outpatient medical management of neuromuscular disorders, musculoskeletal trauma, acute and chronic pain, deformity or amputation, cardiac or pulmonary disease, or other disabling conditions.

The data sources for the information displayed here include: O*NET™. (Using onet291)