Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians

No automatable tasks identified for this role — its real, individually-assessed tasks consistently read as augmentable (93%).

• Prescribe orthotic and prosthetic applications and adaptive equipment, such as wheelchairs, bracing, or communication devices, to maximize patient function and self-sufficiency.
• Document examination results, treatment plans, and patients' outcomes.
• 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.
• 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.
• Assess characteristics of patients' pain, such as intensity, location, or duration, using standardized clinical measures.
• Examine patients to assess mobility, strength, communication, or cognition.
• Prescribe physical therapy to relax the muscles and improve strength.
• 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.
• Conduct physical tests, such as functional capacity evaluations, to determine injured workers' capabilities to perform the physical demands of their jobs.
• Monitor effectiveness of pain management interventions, such as medication or spinal injections.
• Instruct interns and residents in the diagnosis and treatment of temporary or permanent physically disabling conditions.
• Perform electrodiagnosis, including electromyography, nerve conduction studies, or somatosensory evoked potentials of neuromuscular disorders or damage.
• 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.