Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU

Works closely with other Hospice & Palliative Care Consultant Team members to coordinate the daily operations of the programs, develop policies and procedures for program operation, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. Incumbent is a member of a diverse, inter-professional team who works independently and has extensive experience developing and leading groups, partnerships, or coalitions addressing palliative care. They serve as the social work subject matter expert for Palliative/Hospice Care in the acute care setting.

Duties included but not limited to:

• Completes assessments of the psychosocial needs of Veterans requiring referral to the home or inpatient hospice settings
• Actively engages in the treatment planning process with other members of the interdisciplinary team, including scheduling and regularly attending family meetings, actively participating in team huddles and/or rounding
• Participates in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate for those patients whose will be discharging with hospice or palliative care (home or inpatient services) from the hospital setting
• Provides individual, family and group counseling as appropriate, including adjustment to illness and end-of-life counseling and facilitation of a bi-weekly Advance Care Planning Group
• Provides education and referrals to Veterans and families for community resources and VA benefits
• Address Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area
• Assist patients and their family/caregivers with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness, and death. This includes assisting with locating bereavement programming resources
• As needed, provides social work staffing of the outpatient Hospice & Palliative Care Clinic.
• Provides consultation/education to medical residents on Social Work practice and VA policy and procedure
• The incumbent demonstrates strong interpersonal and collaborative skills, working with staff and stakeholders at all knowledge and proficiency levels
• Works closely with other core team members to develop and implement information systems to track service activities
• Serves in the role of Lead Facilitator of the Designated Liaison Program for the local organ and tissue procurement agency, the incumbent performs daily chart reviews and recording of deaths occurring within VAMHCS inpatient settings

The Medical Observation Team Social Worker provides comprehensive social work services to medical observation (short stay) team. As the incumbent's day-to-day responsibilities and interventions will have significant variability, they must demonstrate a high degree of flexibility and versatility. The incumbent functions in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs that impact on the ability of Veterans to adjust health care issues.

• Provides consultation/education to medical residents on Social Work practice and VA policy and procedure
• Acts as liaison between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed
• Incumbent consistently participates in interdisciplinary rounds/meetings as scheduled and performs a variety of interventions in the amelioration of biopsychosocial stressors
• High risk screening and/or psychosocial assessments based upon Social Work Service Documentation Standards
• Discharge planning to a wide range of settings
• Advance directive education and assistance
• Resource education and referral
• Coordination of care

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm
Telework: Only eligible for ad hoc telework
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Functional Statement #: FS#000000
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

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. Possess 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. (Transcripts required: If you do not submit your transcript, your application may not be reviewed.)
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).

Grade Determinations:

GS 12 grade level:

• Experience/Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.
• Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.
• Knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program.
• Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program.
• Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s).
• Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice.

Preferred Experience: A minimum of 2 years of inpatient medical/surgical/geriatric social work experience including discharge planning, experience working with patients around end-of-life related issues, preference for local work experience/knowledge of local resources

References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. It may require some lifting (10-20 lbs.) occasionally. Reaching above shoulder; Frequent keyboarding (4-7 hours per day); Sitting (4-7 hours per day); Walking up to 6 hours per day); Standing (up to 8 hours per day); Infrequent climbing/descending of stairs; Some bending; Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Correctable near sighted and far sighted vision; Hearing (Aid permitted).

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 .

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

Due to COVID-19, VA is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement. Management officials will provide information about returning to the official, pre-pandemic worksite, when applicable. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework depending upon the terms of your organization's telework policy and the duties of the position.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .