Is Hospital Inpatient Rehab Considered “ACUTE CARE”?

[K. Everly, BSN, RN]

Can anybody shed light on this? 

I work on an inpatient rehab unit inside a level 1 trauma hospital. 

We do and see a lot that the med-surg nurses do: respond to critical lab values, hang blood, TPN, code sepsis, code stroke, rapids, no Tele but we do have to get stat EKGs sometimes, take to other units for procedures like MRI, and work with internal medicine closely along with our rehab docs. We have to transfer to other floors sometimes when a patient decompensates.  

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

CMS:  Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities

Quote

IRFs are free standing rehabilitation hospitals and rehabilitation units in acute care hospitals.  They provide an intensive rehabilitation program and patients who are admitted must be able to tolerate three hours of intense rehabilitation services per day.  CMS collects patient assessment data only on Medicare Part A fee-for service patients. 

Thusly, you are providing ACUTE CARE to patients able to tolerate 3 hours a day of Therapy: PT, OT, ST --any combination of services in a single day.

[K. Everly, BSN, RN]

On 6/9/2022 at 10:44 PM, NRSKarenRN said:

CMS:  Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities

Thusly, you are providing ACUTE CARE to patients able to tolerate 3 hours a day of Therapy: PT, OT, ST --any combination of services in a single day.

Thank you. I am interested to know if this would fulfill the “acute care experience” wanted for other job opportunity in the future.

The reason I ask is because I had heard another nurse on this website who worked in a freestanding rehabilitation hospital (not sub-acute) say that she thought employers would regard her experience as “acute care,” but they did not. 

So, while I understand that CMS may consider it acute care , I am wondering if functionally/realistically, hiring managers consider IPR nursing “acute care experience” if it takes place in the context of a level 1 trauma hospital. 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

I'd list on resume "Rehab unit in acute care hospital" and all the  nursing skills you'd listed in first post.  That would make me as a hiring Mgr consider you for Med Surg position especially as EXPERIENCED RN  ---  add in time management.  Big thing with electronic resume/hiring software is to include keywords words from facility job description and hospital website philosophy. 

Ask Nurse Beth resident career expert has great article re getting passed hiring software  

Best wishes moving forward.