This Social Worker is assigned to the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) Program at VA Puget Sound Health Care System located in Seattle, Washington with responsibility to provide direct services for Veterans, their families and caregivers.

Duties

Duties include, but are not limited to: Provide independent and expert clinical assessment and case management services in a Geriatrics Consult Clinic. Utilize clinical interviews with the Veteran and caregiver/ family members to gather facts about the current situation and its impact on the veteran's global level of functioning and health. Assess the patient's understanding of their diagnosis and proposed treatments. Review collateral information including medical records and community contacts, with appropriate release of information to support such information sharing. Uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to develop a psychosocial differential diagnosis when appropriate. Lead and document Patient Priorities Care conversations with veterans and/or, as appropriate, with their caregivers. Patient Priorities Care conversations involve (1) Identifying Health Priorities and (2) Aligning Care with Health Priorities. Identification of Health Priorities involves identifying the veteran's values, health care preferences, care goals, and the "one thing" the veteran would like to focus on. Help the Veteran cope with end of life or complex chronic illness diagnoses and the many emotions that arise. Educate/instruct regarding resources and coping strategies, including understanding dementia, behavioral management and self-care for caregivers. Offer sessions with caregivers focusing on behavioral management of disruptive agitation. Assess treatment options when factoring in obligations of Veteran, family and caregivers and those aforementioned persons' goals, safety, management of ADLs/IADLs, advance care planning, and current care preferences. Collaborate within agencies when Veteran's care involves multiple entities. Provide education related to benefits and services to include VA, Social Security, and disability. Provide referrals and linkage to community agencies with specialized benefits. Counsel individuals, couples, and families and/or refer to specialized mental health providers. Provide or link to appropriate support groups and educational programs. Facilitate communication between the treatment team, Veteran, family and others. Facilitate family discussions about illness, healthcare, and life changes. End of life planning/preference of care with the use of tools including Advance Directive for Healthcare and Life Sustaining Treatments. Extensive knowledge of VA and non-VA resources to support the veteran throughout the course of care. Collaborates with existing VA providers in establishing appropriate referrals based on the veteran's needs and preferences and make referrals when appropriate. Address the impact of end of life and/or chronic illness on life issues. Provide education on transportation to/from appointments, resources at the VA, or in the community. Advocate for services such as home health or hospice care when appropriate. Serve as a trainer and/or educator on geriatric related topics and syndromes with facility and CBOC providers and staff. Develop and co-facilitate educational, support and other related groups for veterans and families. Share and apply specialized knowledge of issues including long term care, disability, end of life diagnoses, impacts/treatments, care needs of elderly Veterans and their caregivers, other biopsychosocial issues, and related community resources and specialized benefits/services including for those needing geriatric care. Develop and implement methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services including in the geriatric care specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Offer consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty areas, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Train students, residents, interns and fellows in social work and from other disciplines and conduct formal workshops and classes for staff. Make home visits to meet with Veterans, caregivers, and families as needed for special projects. Demonstrate the ability to organize work, set priorities, meet multiple deadlines, and evaluate assigned program areas. Assesses current practices of the program and identifies target areas to improve services, program efficiency, and program effectiveness. Participates in activities that obtain feedback from veterans and their caregivers to enrich services and interventions. Projects and plans for program expansion based on current service needs and demands. Assist in development of a geriatric outpatient caregiver support and education outreach program. Work Schedule: 8AM - 4:30PM, Monday - Friday Telework: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part). English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). Education. Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work. Licensure. Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker, GS-12 Experience/Education. The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty. Licensure/Certification. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes. (d) Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills. (e) Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, September 10, 2019 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 lbs.), use of fingers, walking, standing, repeated bending, operation of a motor vehicle, and hearing (aid may be permitted). Environmental factors include working with hands in water, working closely with others, and working alone.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Puget Sound Health Care System 1660 South Columbian Way Seattle, WA 98108 US
• Name: Gabriel Johnson
• Phone: (503) 220-8262 X53014
• Email: [email protected]