Social Worker (Acute Care Inpatient)

Summary

The Acute Care Social Worker for the Audie L. Murphy Veterans Memorial Hospital in San Antonio, TX, provides psychosocial services to Veterans in inpatient acute care settings, including medicine, surgery, specialty medical units, and ICU environments.

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Duties may include but are not limited to: Completes comprehensive admission assessments to identify social drivers of health, strengths, limitations/barriers, coping abilities, and psychosocial support needs for Veterans and their families. Uses mental health assistant tools and required screening instruments to support clinical decision-making and identify risk or treatment needs. Delivers psychosocial treatment and supportive interventions to Veterans across diverse cultural, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds. Provides case management and care coordination in accordance with accepted social work standards, including discharge planning, resource identification, connecting Veterans and families to services, and working with Veterans, families, and groups as clinically appropriate. Applies clinical judgment to support treatment and discharge planning for Veterans with complex medical and psychosocial presentations. Coordinates resources and caregiver supports to enhance coping, maximize functioning, and improve health outcomes. Identifies and helps resolve psychosocial barriers to safe discharge, including housing instability, limited caregiver support, financial hardship, transportation challenges, and other social determinants impacting care. Actively participates in interdisciplinary rounds, care conferences, and treatment planning to ensure psychosocial factors are addressed and integrated into medical and discharge plans. Educates interdisciplinary team members about psychosocial concerns impacting health outcomes, treatment adherence, decision-making capacity, caregiver stress, and discharge readiness. Provides guidance to ensure psychosocial factors are reflected in care plans. Participates in crisis intervention, de-escalation, or coordination with the interdisciplinary treatment team, when clinically indicated. Serves as liaison between Veterans/families and VA or community resources, maintaining current knowledge of available services to support timely and effective referrals and coordination for thorough delivery of services. Collaborates with VA specialty programs such as GEC, Home-Based Primary Care, HUD-VASH, CLC, PACT, and mental health services to support continuity of care and service linkage. Follows STVHCS standard operating procedures for evaluating and mitigating suicide risk to include: Completes the Columbia Suicide Severity Risk Scale (C-SSRS) as per program requirements or more often as indicated, the Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluation, and a Safety Plan via shared template in the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) as per program requirements, with Veterans with suicidal ideation and on any Veteran whose record is flagged "High Risk for Suicide." Additionally, completes the Suicide Behavior and Overdose Report (SBOR) as clinically indicated. All clinical decisions will be discussed with clinical supervisor while the incumbent is under supervision. Completes timely, accurate, and clinically relevant documentation in CPRS in accordance with inpatient social work standards. Upholds professional and agency standards in accordance with Joint Commission requirements and VA and medical center policies and procedures, and adheres to the NASW Code of Ethics, maintaining respectful, culturally responsive, and Veteran-centered practice in all interactions. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00am - 4:30pm or 7:30am - 4:00pm Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience. Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Available Ad-hoc. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 56049-F, 56048-F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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. English Language Proficiency - You must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f) Education -You must 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. Note: A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in Social Work. License or Certification* - You must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. *Exception - For assignments at the GS-9 level, VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations. VHA social workers who are not licensed or certified at the time of appointment must become licensed or certified at the independent, master's level within three years of their appointment as a social worker. *Grandfather Provision. A Social Worker employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (9/10/2019) who did not meet all the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply: Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/ registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/ certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registratio