The Senior Social Worker is assigned to Acute Care/Medicine located at the Columbia VA Health Care System, Columbia, SC. The Incumbent will provide high quality Medical Social Work care and services to assigned Veteran Patients at the facility. The Senior Social Worker services are performed on inpatient medicine and/or surgery areas.

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Specific duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: A. The Senior Social Worker will function as an integral member of the Acute Care Interdisciplinary Team (IDT), actively participating in patient assessment, treatment planning, case management, and provision of a full range of treatment and services to all assigned Veteran patients. 1) Conducting psychosocial assessments utilizing information obtained from the Veteran and family members in order to assess the Veteran's psychosocial functioning and needs and formulate and implement a plan of action identifying the Veteran's problems, strengths, weaknesses, resources, coping skills, and required assistance. 2) Working with patients and families experiencing basic emotional, medical and social problems utilizing individual, group and family education and counseling skills. 3) Managing patients with complex problems. 4) Utilizing supportive, problem-solving and crisis intervention skills. 5) Making facility referrals based upon Veteran's need and eligibility. 6) Developing active discharge plans within an interdisciplinary team setting where the Social Worker is able to recommend preferred course of agency action. Progressive, proactive discharge planning begins upon the first day of hospitalization. 7) Participating in daily Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) meetings including Saturday and Sunday IDT meetings. Facilitating timely discharges through proactive discharge planning as a part of the IDT concept. Providing daily communication and updates to the IDT and to the Supervisory Social Worker regarding progress on difficult discharges, social admissions and difficult-to-place patients. 8) Planning for discharge under circumstances when actions may have a serious impact upon the life of the Veteran. 9) Reporting data to the Supervisory Social Worker and to the Chief, SWS regarding Length of Stay including conditions and barriers impacting timely and successful discharge of Veterans. 10) Documenting all clinical care and actions independently in the medical record within the established time frame utilizing appropriate/authorized electronic formats, including psychosocial assessments, treatment plans and progress notes. B. Acting as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the Veteran/family. When appropriate and feasible, educating and encouraging the Veteran/family to advocate on own behalf, thus fostering a sense of independence and empowerment. C. Making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs. D. Ensuring coverage in all program component areas and demonstrating a cooperative team spirit in providing backup coverage as needed/assigned to prevent disruption of patient care activities. E. Documenting all patient care assessments, interventions, and treatment progress in CPRS in a timely and professional manner consistent with Joint Commission, SWS guidelines, and facility policies/procedures. Capturing all workload through completion of electronic patient encounters and completing clinical reminders as necessary. F. Serving as a field instructor or preceptor and may therefore supervise social work graduate-level interns and provide a successful training experience in the field of social work. Working with students to develop training needs and goals, and assessing student's progress and performance. G. Staying abreast of current theory and treatment modalities by reading professional journals, attending conferences, clinic seminars and teleconferences, and materials given out by staff and psychiatry. H. Participating in the overall activities of the Social Work Service. This will include special projects, quality assurance assignments, representation on committees, development of programs, etc., as directed by operational needs to comply with Joint Commission, VA/Network mandates, and medical center/service line goals. I. Assisting with other duties as assigned by the assigned Social Work Supervisor. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm and 10:30pm to 7:00am (subject to change based on agency need). Compressed/Flexible:Available. Telework: Not Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Available. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not require.

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. 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/. Physical Requirements. Applicants must pass a pre-employment physical exam/screening. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. ? 7403(f). 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. GS-12, Senior Social Worker: Experience and 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. AND Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as Senior Social Worker 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. AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate 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. Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. Preferred Experience: Experience in Acute Care with discharge planning. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39 dated September 10, 2019. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS12. Physical Requirements: The incumbent must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. The incumbent must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the Social Worker or others. Position requires walking throughout the clinic and/or Medical Center, standing for extended periods of time, and involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams. Position may require minimal travel into the community to meet with community agencies and partners who aid, help, and provide support to the Caregiver Support Program, its Veterans, and caregivers. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

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 Columbia VA Health Care System 6439 Garners Ferry Road Columbia, SC 29209 US
• Name: Cecelia Perkins
• Phone: 5409822463 2403
• Email: [email protected]