Job Description Summary

Provides quality social work and counseling services to assist acute care patients and families in coping with illness and disability, as well as the accompanying life changes, death, and bereavement.

Job Description

1. Completes psychosocial portion of multidisciplinary assessment of referred patients in accordance with established standards of practice.
a. Written psychosocial and clinical assessment of patient at time of patient interview that presents comprehensive data on the person, the current problems and environmental factors.

2. Develops and implements treatment plans for appropriate patients in accordance with established standards of care and practice.
a. Treatment plan will be developed which reflects an integration of clinical social work practice.

b. Treatment plan will be presented and discussed with patient as appropriate.

3. Completes all documentation of services according to established standards.
a. Documents patient status as observed during clinical session.

b. Documentation will support rationale for continued counseling sessions or appropriateness of patient termination.

c. All documentation will occur at time of patient interview.

4. Provides counseling and emotional support to patients and families.
a. Facilitates communication between family members to achieve a level of emotional support as needed for patient's medical progress.

b. Provides supportive counseling on a short-term basis to patients while here at SSH&E.

c. Documents counseling in patient chart at time of interview.

5. Identifies psychosocial issues for team members and aids in the understanding of how these issues affect patient/family and treatment planning.
a. Effectively communicates with team members regarding patient status in order to facilitate interdisciplinary assessment and treatment.

b. Attends and participates in at least 80% of regularly scheduled team meetings.

6. Demonstrates a thorough knowledge of community resources, acts as a patient advocate, and facilitates the referral process.
a. Establishes and maintains a comprehensive resource file.

b. Empowers and effectively represents patient, as needed, in order to secure available services.

7. Actively functions as a member of the patient care team to collaborate in the formulation and implementation of plan of care.
a. Communicates with nursing and medical staff, as needed, regarding mental health issues and social service needs.

b. Facilitates integration of social service goals into cohesive team treatment plan.

c. Identifies patients in need of crisis intervention and management.

8. Responsible for hospital weekend/holiday coverage on a rotational basis.
a. Provides psychosocial assessment, support and intervention on matters requiring immediate attention throughout the hospital.

b. Intervenes to assist interdisciplinary staff in developing optimal plan of care.

c. Maintains documentation of all interventions.

d. Refers as needed, to appropriate social work on next day of business.

9. As a Mandated Reporter, demonstrates knowledge of family violence, child/elder/disabled neglect and abuse so as to identify those at risk and refer them to appropriate agencies per Hospital guidelines, as evidenced by documentation in the clinical record.
a. Demonstrates knowledge of crisis intervention theory, as evidenced by clinical analysis and developing POA for Social Work Intervention.

b. Collaborates and facilitates case conferences with appropriate members of IDT to assess need for reporting to appropriate agency, implements changes in POC in a timely fashion and completes all required paperwork with date, signature and title.

Minimum Education - Preferred
Master's Degree from a CSW accredited school of social work preferred.

Minimum Work Experience
Two (2) years’ experience in an acute hospital setting preferred.

Licensed Clinical Social Worker OR Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
Knowledge of various treatment modalities.