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Medical/Surgical Complex Care Coordination Senior Social Worker

Employer
USAJobs
Location
Baltimore, Maryland
Closing date
Sep 22, 2020
Duties

Summary

The Medical/Surgical Complex Care Coordination Senior Social Worker provides social work services to Veterans and families across a range of different settings at the Baltimore VAMC. Day-to-day responsibilities and interventions will have significant variability, and the incumbent must be able to work with a high degree of clinical independence and flexibility, prioritizing incoming requests by acuity of need and ensuring appropriate hand-off of cases that need to be transitioned to other staff.
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Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
  • The incumbent is assigned as the social worker for the Medical Intensive Care Unit team and provides clinical psychosocial and care coordination services in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs of critically ill Veterans and their families. They participate in daily interdisciplinary rounds and perform an array of social work interventions including high risk screening, psychosocial assessments, discharge planning, adjustment to illness counseling, end of life counseling, advance directives, resource education and referral, and coordination of care.
  • The incumbent provides direct social work staffing for cases determined by supervisory staff to be difficult discharges based upon multi-faceted complexity and prolonged length of stay due to systemic or patient-specific barriers. Such cases include but are not limited to those with length of stay over 30 days, all medical/surgical cases requiring guardianship petition, and cases of re-admissions of failed complex placements/discharges.
  • They serve as a subject matter expert for the petition process for guardianship for medical/surgical inpatients and demonstrates the ability to provide guidance to staff in other work areas regarding process steps and considerations related to guardianship petition.
  • The incumbent supports the goal of ensuring continuity of care by providing clinical psychosocial and complex case management services to a wide range of patient populations and implementing treatment plans and/or continuing treatment plans initiated by regularly assigned inpatient social work staff while providing cross-coverage during long term staffing shortages. Additionally, as a part of the incumbent's regular assignment, they provide regular/recurring coverage of time-sensitive patient care needs for the social worker assigned to Saturday staffing (one day each week).
  • The social worker provides comprehensive clinical psychosocial and case management services to Veterans with disease-specific social work needs in General Neurology and Epilepsy Clinics. They provide time-limited case management services to high-risk/high-need patients within the scope of their neurologic plan of care and collaborate effectively with assigned PACT Social Work staff for routine outpatient social work needs, providing an appropriate warm hand-off. Additionally, they provide inpatient social work assistance, as needed, to Veterans admitted to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU). They function 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.
  • The incumbent participates in the direct assessment of Veterans with known or suspected dementia in the weekly interdisciplinary Dementia Clinic (at Baltimore VA location). They complete targeted assessment of psychosocial domains and provide crucial insights to medical providers and assist with formulation of education, resources, and individualized treatment recommendations.
  • They ensure initiation of time-sensitive referrals for VA and community resources to meet urgent needs for respite care or alternative placement for patients evaluated by the Dementia Clinic.
  • The incumbent supports the training of fellows and other interdisciplinary trainees rotating through the clinic in the role of social work in the health care setting and in the interdisciplinary team process.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
12

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • You may be required to serve a probationary period
  • Subject to a background/security investigation
  • Must be proficient in written and spoken English
  • Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process


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/.
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):
  • Experience and 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, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  • Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.
  • Ability to follow established policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for 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 : Strong preference for 2 or more years of post-graduate acute inpatient medical/surgical social work experience.

    Advanced Practice Level: For all assignments above the full performance 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. Program coordinators at the GS-12 grade level are administratively responsible for a clinical program providing treatment to Veterans in a major specialty area, such as but not limited to: Spinal Cord Injury, Homeless Continuum Veteran Program, Hospice and Palliative Care Program, Suicide Prevention Program, Veterans Justice Outreach, Caregiver Support Program and Community Nursing Home Program. The program coordinator may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at the facility and typically provide direct patient care services in the program area. The program coordinator oversees the daily operation of the program, develop policies and procedures for program operation, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may be responsible for the program's budget, developing and monitoring staff compliance with practice, standards and guidelines on documentation, workload, data entry, ethical practice and service delivery. The program coordinator provides analysis and evaluation of clinical program data and computerized programs to identify system-wide trends and needs to enhance the quality of service. They may be responsible for, or contribute to, the program's resource and fiscal management, monitoring control points developing the annual budget, operating within that budget, and accounting for appropriated funds. The program coordinator is administratively responsible for the clinical programming and prepares reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They provide leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned staff. They initiate and conduct a variety of program or service audits and complete designated clinical practice audits and reports, including productivity assessments. They oversee program operations and evaluations, identifying areas for improvement, gathering relevant data, assessing the data, developing and implementing ideas for improvement and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts.

    References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39

    Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 lbs.); light carrying (under 15 lbs.); reaching above shoulder; use of fingers; both hands required; walking (intermittent); standing (intermittent); hearing (aid permitted); hearing without aid. The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

    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.

    It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

    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.

    Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

    If you are unable to apply online view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .

    How You Will Be Evaluated

    You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

    IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

    Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

    Background checks and security clearance

    Security clearance
    Not Required

    Drug test required
    No

    Position sensitivity and risk
    Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

    Trust determination process

    Required Documents

    To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

    • Resume
    • SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action


    Current federal employees must submit their most recent SF-50 to verify eligibility. Please do not use SF-50s for awards, as they do not usually have all of the required information listed.

    The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please use this checklist to ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.

    • Proof of Social Work Licensure
    • Resume
    • SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
    • Transcript


    Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/vetpref/index.aspx .

    If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

    Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

    Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

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