Summary

The Senior Social Worker assigned to the Emergency Department (ED) or Urgent Care Center with responsibilities to provide direct social work services for adult Veterans and their families who present for 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
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f)
• 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: 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
• 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/Education: Senior Social Workers must have at least two years of experience 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
• In addition to the experience above - candidates must demonstrate the Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities (KSAs): 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
• Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Assignments: 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
• Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level
• Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site
• a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center - or a national VHA referral center - such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center - or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity
• The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns
• Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics
• The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans - ensures equity of access - service - and benefits to this population - ensures the care provided is of the highest quality
• The senior social worker provides leadership - direction - orientation - coaching - in-service training - staff development - and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff
• They serve on committees - work groups - and task forces at the facility - VISN and national level - or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor - Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services
• This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management
• This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12
• Physical Requirements: The work environment is normally a clinical setting
• There is exposure to individuals having psychiatric and medical illness and disabilities - including infections - violent or aggressive behavior - and chronic psychiatric or physical problems
• Travel may be required to meeting patient needs - and may occasionally demand unplanned - irregular tours of duty.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf Must have knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses - disabilities - and treatment procedures
• This includes acute - chronic - and traumatic illnesses/injuries
• common medications and their effects/side effects
• and medical terminology
• Knowledge of community resources - how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services and ability to coordinate services
• Plans - coordinates and carries out the successive steps in fact finding and analysis of issues in accordance with accepted polices and applicable precedents
• Collaborates with discipline supervisors including psychiatry - psychology - social work - primary care - and nursing by providing input in hiring - performance reviews - incentives - and discipline
• Collaborates with clerical supervisors for similar input
• Offers consultation to colleagues - students - and peers on the bio-psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty areas - rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills
• Demonstrates the ability to teach - coach - and mentor staff - students in the ED - specialty care - and care coordination areas of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications
• Incumbent will demonstrate exceptional maturity and work well with all team members in the ED - Acute Care - Medicine - community partners - and other services needed to meet the needs of the patient and family members
• Experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans
• Senior Social worker has access to multiple resource directories to meet the demands of a crisis
• In the event of a medical or psychiatric emergency - staff will follow the established protocol of the program
• Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans receiving care and ensures equity of access - service - and benefits to this population Process alleged abuse cases according to policy
• Responsible for furthering their own professional growth through education appropriate to the area of assignment and providing coverage during absences of social work staff members
• Serve on various Social Work Service - medical center - or community-based committees as needed or required
• Uses a high level of skill in assessing and treating the complicated biopsychosocial concerns of Veterans and their families/NOK/Surrogate
• Document's interventions in the Veteran's clinical record when requires utilizing the computerized patient record system (CPRS) and ensures an appropriate hand off information is provided when transferring Veteran care
• Work Schedule: 10:00am-6:30pm - Monday - Friday
• Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized
• Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not 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 Available
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 70882-F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.