Social Worker - Acute Recovery Center

About the role

This position is located at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa, FL. JAHVAH is a Level I tertiary medical center with general medicine, surgical, psychiatric, rehabilitation, spinal cord injury, nursing home care beds and one of four Polytrauma treatment facilities in the VA. The Acute Recovery Center (ARC) Social Work Team provide social work support to multidisciplinary inpatient psychiatric teams at JAHVAH in Tampa, Florida.

Responsibilities

• Deliver a comprehensive range of social work services, including detailed assessments, discharge planning, supportive counseling, care coordination, and other relevant services for Veterans and their families, all while adhering to accepted standards of practice.
• Identify behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect or exploitation.
• Provide education on advance directives and advanced care planning.
• Provide social work case management.
• Act as an advocate with appropriate VA and community service providers/agencies when it serves the best interest of the Veteran and family members/caregiver.
• Assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members, identifying the Veteran's strengths, weaknesses, coping skills and psychosocial acuity, in collaboration with the Veteran, family, and interdisciplinary treatment teams.
• Maintain a current network of internal and external resources to educate the Veteran and/or family members/caregivers and assist with the appropriate referrals.
• Assign to all program areas, including, but not limited to, inpatient or outpatient medicine, surgery, mental health, neurology, specialty medicine, rehabilitation medicine, and geriatrics.
• Use clinical social work skills and knowledge to maintain Veteran privacy and confidentiality per policies, handbooks or directives.
• Provide case management and care coordination to facilitate appropriate delivery of health care services, incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of Veterans, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
• Link the Veteran with services, resources, and opportunities, in order to maximize the Veteran's independence, health, and well-being.
• Conduct timely assessment of at-risk Veterans in crisis to identify immediate needs, evaluate risk, and initiate safety plan as appropriate.
• Complete psychosocial evaluations, mental status examinations, and functional ability assessments of newly admitted patients to determine clinical needs and social determinants of health that influences care access and quality of life.
• Provide patient education on internal and community resources, Goals of Care conversations, advance directives, VA benefits that influence healthcare options, and social determinants of health status.
• Treatment planning with multidisciplinary team members for disposition and discharge planning, care coordination, and other services as appropriate.
• Provide discharge options based on available resources and each Veteran's benefits.
• Educate and consult multidisciplinary team members and medical residents on social work practice standards and VA policy and procedures.
• Engage in commonly accepted standards of social work practice of individual, family and group counseling, and other services as appropriate to help Veterans and families cope with grief and loss, terminal illness, and death.
• Document social work interventions in Veterans' medical record according to hospital policies and regulatory guidelines.
• Adhere to ARC documentation policies and mandates for suicide safety planning, court proceedings, and consult management.
• Participate in committee assignments, discipline specific meetings and initiatives as deemed necessary for professional growth and development in alignment with scope of assigned duties.
• Contribute to social work service on-call rotation, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on holidays, evenings, and weekends.

Qualifications

• 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).
• 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.
• Experience: Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of a minimum of one (1) year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings, (VA or non-VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level.