The Senior Social Worker (Emergency Department [ED]) works independently using his/her educational training, clinical experience, VA policies, and Joint Commission standards to administer direct services to Veterans referred for presenting for care in the Emergency Department and is located at South Texas Veteran's Health Care System in San Antonio, TX (STVHCS).

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Major Duties: Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness. Incumbent incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of Veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Incumbent is able to demonstrate the ability to design changes based on empirical findings. Uses the social work process (psychosocial assessment, diagnosis, and treatment) to conduct an intake health status assessment or an update assessment for OEF/OIF veterans; utilizes clinical reminders to evaluate the need for health care, behavioral and mental health services; makes appropriate referrals for health care, individual, group, marital and/or family treatment services. Informs the OEF/OIF program support assistant when an intake health status assessment is initially completed for an OEF/OIF veteran. Completes the PHQ-I9, Comprehensive Suicide Risk Assessment, and/or Suicide Behavior and Overdose reports according to VA policy and guidelines in the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) as needed on patients with suicidal ideation and on patients whose record is flagged "High Risk for Suicide." Must be experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to Mental Health inpatient/outpatient programs. The incumbent has access to multiple resource directories in addition to previously developed resources to meet the demands of a crisis. In the event of a medical or psychiatric emergency, staff will follow the protocol of the VA Medical Center. The ED Social Worker will complete suicide risk screening and assessments. This may include assessment of suicidal/homicidal thoughts/behaviors, completion of a suicide safety plan, or consultation with ED mental health providers. In collaboration with Mental Health, is responsible for completing the assessment of Veterans that are determined to be intermediate or high acute risk on the Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluation (CSRE) and are safe to be discharged home for the Safety Planning in the Emergency Department (SPED) measure. The documentation that must be completed includes the CSRE and Suicide Prevention Safety Plan note templates in CPRS. Assessment and documentation must be completed on all Veterans admitted to the medicine/surgery units or transferred to a community psychiatric hospital. Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in the specialty area, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Ability to teach and mentor staff and students in the specialty area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure. Serve as a liaison with community agencies, assist Veterans with referrals for services from community and government agencies, and help coordinate these services. Work collaboratively with Homeless Veterans Program to assist the Homeless Veterans find transitional/permanent housing. Assist Homeless Veterans in connecting to resources and providing referrals. Establish and maintain positive and productive working relationships with community partners, Mental Health agencies/programs, shelters, providers and resource agencies for Homeless Services. Consulted regarding allegations of abuse and neglect and will follow the protocol of the VA Medical Center including mandatory reporting to Adult and Child Protective Services as necessary and clinically appropriate. Must provide consultation and education to Veterans and their families regarding community resources, VA benefits and specialty programs, and Advance Directives. This includes the incumbent's knowledge of the process for accessing and/or coordinating community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs, and community programs. Major Duties continue in Qualification Section Work Schedule: 12:30-11:00pm, four 10-hour days, including nights, holidays and weekends Telework Eligible: Yes - as determined by the agency policy. Compressed/Flexible:Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Major Duties continuation: Attend all appropriate meetings (interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, Social Work staff meetings, other committees or workgroups as appropriate, etc.) and perform other duties as required. The incumbent will collaborate in the performance improvement processes and comply with performance measures as required by the VA for their specific population and/or program. The incumbent will participate in activities to obtain feedback from Veterans and work to enhance services, making necessary adjustments when needed. Must possess and demonstrate ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing with people from varied backgrounds. Willingly accepts additional duties and special assignments that are necessary to meet program goals or Veterans' needs. 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/. Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. 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: 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. Advanced Practice Level: For all assignments above the full performance (journey) 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. Advanced Practice Level is defined as the ability to provide independent and expert clinical psychosocial and case management services in a specialized area of practice to Veterans who tend to have serious and severe crises, may lack any familial and community support, may be poor self-monitors, may frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or may have major deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support. The advanced practice or senior social worker has an increased depth and breadth of practice skills; has expertise in participating in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching; demonstrates leadership in developing and expanding professional intervention strategies; demonstrates leadership in defining and attending to professional practice issues; and has the ability to expand the conceptual knowledge of the profession. The advanced practice or senior social worker will make independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action; the consequences to the Veteran of these decisions and actions may be quite serious. Work involves intensive social work services requiring the exercise of mature professional judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of complex social work practice skills not typically required in routine social work interventions. The advanced practice or senior social worker has mastered a range of specialized interventions and provides consultation to colleagues, renders professional opinions based on experience and expertise, develops new models of psychosocial assessment or intervention, and incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment. The advanced practice or senior social worker utilizes outcome evaluations to further treatment and designs system changes based on empirical findings. Preferred Experience: EBP Certification Prior experience in similar role or with population served Clinical supervision certification Quality or utilization management experience Former VA Trainee References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120, PART II, APPENDIX G39, VA Qualification Standards, September 10, 2019The full performance level of this vacancy is 12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Light lifting: under 15 pounds; Light carrying, under 15 pounds ; reaching above shoulders; use of fingers; Both hands required; walking (up to 6 hours); standing (up to 6 hours); repeated bending (up to 2-4 hours); ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Far Vision 20/30; ability to distinguish shade of colors, hearing (aid permitted); emotional and mental stability; sit for extended periods; performs independently; cognitive stability.

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

NOTE: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.

Contacts

• Address Audie L Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital 7400 Merton Minter Boulevard San Antonio, TX 78229 US
• Name: VISN 17 SSU USAS Group
• Email: [email protected]