This incumbent will serve as the Social Work Inpatient Medical/Surgical Senior Social Worker and Transplant SW Coordinator at the VA Boston Healthcare System, a highly complex 1a facility that encompasses three major campuses and 5 CBOCs. The incumbent is stationed at the West Roxbury Campus but is expected to travel to all campuses and CBOCs within VA Boston Healthcare System as needed.

Duties

As the Transplant Social Work Coordinator, the incumbent serves as the social worker assigned to the VA Boston National Transplant Center. The incumbent works collaboratively with VA medical and surgical teams, the community Transplant Center and with Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) to provide care to Veterans referred to the Lung Transplant Program. The incumbent will additionally work with the Cardiac team providing care in the Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) program. The incumbent will provide assessments and case management to Veterans in both the Lung Transplant Program and the VAD Program. The incumbent serves as the Senior Social Worker in the Acute Medical/Surgical Center by providing assessment and case management for veterans with the most complex psychosocial needs that impact discharge including but not limited to payer source for appropriate level of care, guardianship/legal, neurocognitive disorders and complex mental health comorbidities. The incumbent works collaboratively with the Medical Team in Acute Care specializing in complex medical and psychosocial needs with delayed discharge delays due to these complexities. The Incumbent takes primary responsibility for discharge planning and referrals, and actively pursues placement when indicated. S/he will use creative problem-solving and knowledge of resources to help minimize/eliminate financial, legal, and/or interpersonal barriers to discharge. The incumbent is administratively responsible for managing consults and tracking program related data. The Senior Social Worker selected for this position will need to have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, especially in crisis intervention and working with an interdisciplinary team. They will be using short-term, solution focused counseling with individuals and families who may be in crisis as well as providing education and referral for resources and benefits, case management, and post-intervention follow-up. Work Schedule: 7:30am to 4:00pmMay vary depending on deployment and/or assigned facility needs Compressed/Flexible: Maybe available at Supervisory Discretion Telework: Ad-hoc Travel: Up to 25% may be required. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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. English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. 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. Note: 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. Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work 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. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade. Experience: 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 and 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. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring. (b) Knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program. (c) Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program. (d) Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s). (e) Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice. Preferred Experience and Certifications Experience in hospital settings Experience working with an interdisciplinary team Experience with medically complex discharge planning Experience completing advance directives/health care proxies Experience with data tracking and process improvement Experience completing psychosocial assessments. Experience working with organ transplant programs Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G-39 Social Worker Qualification Standard. Physical Requirements: Eligible applicants must be physically and mentally able to perform efficiently the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation, without hazard to themselves or others. Depending on the essential duties of a specific position, usable vision, color vision, hearing or speech may be required. However, in most cases, a specific physical condition or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prosthesis or mechanical aid.

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 Boston Healthcare System 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 US
• Name: Evandria Smith-Bastian
• Phone: 786-906-5324
• Email: [email protected]