Senior Social Worker (Medicine)

Summary

This position is located in Social Work Service of the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System. Incumbent will provide services at the CW Bill Young (CWBY) Medical Center. The duties and responsibilities are carried throughout the HealthCare Center including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the services.

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 to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work
• English Language Proficiency
• Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f)
• 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
• Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment - the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates
• GS-12 Experience/Education
• The candidate must have at least two years of experience 9 post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which - one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level
• Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment
• Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice
• Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty
• Licensure/Certification
• Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination - unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California - which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure
• In addition to the experience above - candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations
• This includes individual - group - and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management
• (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice
• (c) Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area - utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes
• (d) Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area - as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills
• (e) Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession - and to write policies - procedures - and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Services.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Major duties but are not limited to : Performs specialized treatment and care coordination for individuals with complex medical or mental illness
• Incumbent incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients - including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice in the Emergency Department - Inpatient Wards - and Outpatient specialty clinical settings
• Responsible for the implementation of written treatment program policies and procedures developed by Social Work Service that are based on coherent empirical and theoretical rationale and are consistent with patient rights and the maintenance of comprehensive written patient progress notes - outcomes and discharge planning services in collaboration with the unit treatment team
• Provide consultation/education to veterans and families on community resources - advance directives and VA benefits
• Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty areas - utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services
• Incumbent is able to demonstrate the ability to design changes based on empirical findings
• The incumbent will assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability - terminal illness and death
• Identifying and manage the discharge planning and care coordination for patient's cases identified as psychosocially complex
• Offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty areas - rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills
• The incumbent will also perform other related duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Sunday-Tuesday 8:00am-4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay - a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade)
• 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: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 20876F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.

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