This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Duties

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Available - Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized to highly qualified candidates EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Incumbent provides direct care social work services to Veterans with complex medical and mental health needs, who are inpatients or outpatients, when the primary social worker in that area of the medical section of social work is on leave, during periods of vacancy, or during periods of high demand for social work services. Incumbent is responsible for reviewing social work coverage needs on a daily basis and providing coverage as needed. Incumbent also serves as a consultant and subject matter expert for social work colleagues who are providing services to Veterans hospitalized in diverse acute care settings or being seen as outpatients in multiple specialty clinics. Manages the daily operations of social work services within the Medicine Section of Social Work Service, develops policies and procedures for program operation and prepares reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. The incumbent manages and controls the use of data related to these programs regarding day-to-day functioning, process improvement and program evaluation. Incumbent coordinates closely with the supervisory social worker for the Medicine Section of Social Work Service, the Utilization Management and Review Program, the DCOS for Acute Care Medicine, nursing case management, and the Office of Quality, Safety and Value. Duties of the position include, but are not limited to: Provides comprehensive social work coverage and direct patient care services to multiple inpatient and outpatient medical programs at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto Division. Works independently as an advanced practice senior social worker, licensed at the advanced practice level. Works in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team on a fast paced acute medical/surgical unit to develop timely and appropriate treatment and discharge plans. Provides services to Veterans with highly complex health and/or mental health problems who may be in medical or mental health crisis. Provides social work triage assessment, crisis intervention, brief counseling, and rapid referrals to VA and community resources. Provides discharge planning interventions including to homeless shelters or to return to origin. Coordinates with VA and community travel resources and is the liaison to on-site lodging including Defender's Lodge and Fisher House. Involved with decisions regarding hospital admission for Veterans with complex psychosocial needs. Provides and/or arranges for the delivery of services for Oncology and Hematology Clinics and several additional specialty outpatient clinics (i.e., Allergy, Andrology, Diagnostic Radiology Center, ENT, General Surgery, GU Oncology, Hematology, Interventional Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, Oncology, and Urology). Evaluates and provides complex, multiple services to individuals and families with a variety of social, emotional and health problems related to their oncologic treatment. Works as a part of a multi-disciplinary team. Provides and/or arranges for the delivery of services to include the following: Inpatient Critical Care (i.e. SMICU, MSICU and SIICU), Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Outpatient Surgery Service (OSS) and Outpatient Pain, Neurology, Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Cardiology and GI clinics. Provides social work triage assessment, crisis intervention, brief counseling, bereavement support, referrals to VA and community resources, and discharge planning. Provides comprehensive psychosocial assessments and facilitates advance directive discussions and long-term care discussions. Engages in program activities to improve quality of care, assure appropriate utilization, and policy and program development. Demonstrates the ability to design changes based on empirical findings. Maintains accurate statistics and prepares reports within specified deadlines as required, including length of stay, admitting diagnoses, psychosocial issues delaying discharges, disposition, etc. to track trends. Provide clinical supervision to medical social workers as well as guidance and consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in medical settings, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills in acute care medicine. Demonstrates a high degree of responsibility and accountability, including knowledge of VA directives and policies and outside survey compliance. Other duties as assigned by management.

Requirements

Qualifications

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: 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/. 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). Grandfathering Provision: The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation. All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS-0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker. 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: 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. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. 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. 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. 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, Part II, Appendix G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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 Palo Alto VA Medical Center 3801 Miranda Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 US
• Name: Tyler Jennings
• Phone: 775-486-3377
• Email: [email protected]