Lead Medical Social Worker - Bronson Battle Creek

Bronson Healthcare•Battle Creek, MI

19h

About The Position

Under general supervision from the manager and/or director, and in accordance with the policies and guidelines established within the organization and individual unit, the lead medical social worker's priority is to function as leader over the medical social work staff to oversee the delivery of social work services to all medical areas of the hospital to a variety of patient populations. Oversees direct intervention with patients and families in such areas as mental health, suicide, domestic violence, sexual assault, child/adult abuse/neglect, death/grief, crisis intervention, advocacy and substance abuse. Assists staff with intervention for families and patients for discharge planning, etc. and liaison with physicians and management, providing continuity of leadership day-to-day. The lead medical social worker acts as a role model, mentor, coach and resource person to staff to ensure all unit standards are maintained and to encourage a team environment. The lead medical social worker is involved in assisting managers in attracting, developing, maintaining, and retaining qualified staff members. Duties may include assisting with hiring, orientation, problem solving, employee coaching, and staffing. In addition to duties involving unit personnel, the lead medical social worker serves as a contact for internal and external customers. He/she is responsible for maintaining a safe environment of care, which fosters positive customer service and meets all quality standards, implementing new and monitoring ongoing processes. This role provides opportunity for leadership succession. The lead medical social worker oversees the coordination of patient's transitional plan of care and ensures patients move from the acute care setting to the next appropriate level and place of care i.e. psychiatric facilities, substance abuse treatment, etc. This includes ensuring and facilitating the achievement of quality, clinical and financial outcomes, negotiating, procuring, and coordinating services and resources needed by the patient/family, and intervening at key points for individual patients. The lead medical social worker collaborates with performance improvement teams to address and resolve patterns in aggregate variances that have a negative quality/cost impact and creates opportunities to enhance outcomes. Employees providing direct patient care must demonstrate competencies specific to the population served.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Social Work and 3 years of experience in an acute care hospital setting required
Must complete the internal leadership pathway as defined by Bronson’s Center for Learning
Additional education/experience may be required depending on department
Current Social Worker license in good standing with the state of Michigan required
Ability to utilize word processing, spreadsheet, presentation programs, databases, and other software relevant to the job
Requires excellent communication skills and a positive customer relations orientation
Positive conflict management skills and a persuasive style will be essential to the success of this position
Demonstrates effective problem-solving and critical thinking in care for patients during transitions of care
Regularly utilizes effective negotiation and conflict resolution skills as needed
Work which produces levels of mental/visual fatigue which are typical of jobs that perform a wide variety of duties with frequent and significant uncontrollable deadlines.
Work may include the operation of and full attention to a personal computer or CRT up to 40 percent of the time.
Involves considerable standing or walking, regular lifting of light-weight objects (i.e., 20 pounds or less) and assisting with heavier tasks such as assisting in lifting and moving patients.
Minor straining or fatiguing positions must be assumed, and some fatiguing physical motions are required.

Nice To Haves

Formal or informal leadership experience preferred

Responsibilities

Assesses the nature of the crisis and the immediate social/emotional needs and strengths of the patient and family in order to provide appropriate intervention. Performs further assessment/interview with patient and/or family when indicated.
Identifies problems surrounding the crisis situation and may act as patient advocate to ameliorate such problems.
Collaborates with other members of the patient care team to understand each situation from different perspectives and recommends or provides immediate treatment and solution focused interventions.
Identifies the need for, develops plan of care and makes referrals to community agencies and other healthcare specialists and plans for patient discharge to ensure the appropriate follow-up treatment and support is available and provided for after leaving the department or hospital.
Initiates development of and facilitates ongoing review and revision of patient transition care plans with the care coordination team members. Manages and monitors patient progress and documents according to procedure.
Facilitates interdisciplinary collaborative process collaboration.
Strong interpersonal skills.
Coordinates daily huddles as needed.
Facilitates Complex Care meetings as needed.
Evaluates patient need for community resources when appropriate.
Removes barriers that impede the effective transition of patients to the next level of care (i.e. psychiatric placement.)
Acts as a liaison between patients, the care team and community services to ensure effective healthcare management and delivery of transitional services.
Builds and maintains strong collegial relationships with the healthcare team.
Serves as an advocate to patients/families by coordinating and providing patient transition plan needs. Serves as an advocate to all healthcare team members by recognizing and understanding professional role and function.
Able to effectively communicate, negotiate, use sound judgment and follow up on situations/issues in a timely, appropriate manner.
Demonstrates efficient and effective assessing, prioritizing, planning, organizing, monitoring and evaluating skills.
Able to articulate and demonstrate commitment both to departmental goals and to the vision, values and mission of Bronson Hospital.
Demonstrates commitment to providing outstanding customer service in a manner that is reflective of our mission, values and customer service standards.
Maintains a working knowledge of applicable Federal, State and local laws and regulations, the Compliance Accountability Program, Code of Ethics, as well as other policies and procedures to ensure adherence.
Maintains a safe workplace by keeping work area free of hazards and correcting and/or properly reporting any safety hazards.
Uses correct body positioning/body mechanics, safe work practices (e.g. pushing vs. pulling, patient transfer/lifting devices, etc.) and personal protective equipment to avoid injury when necessary.
Performs related duties as assigned.
Accounts for coordination of day-to-day unit operations, i.e. staff assignments.
Assumes responsibility for staffing. Assignments reflect appropriate utilization of personnel.
Coordinates department staff schedule with manager input as needed.
Adjusts department staffing on a day-to-day basis to meet staffing needs (including managing volume changes, replacing call-ins, etc.)
Facilitates staff attendance at organizational committees, meetings, etc.
Manages staffing levels to help department achieve its budget.
Participates in projecting staffing needs and assisting in creating a staffing plan with manager/director.
Approve/deny PTO with manager oversight.
Follows organizational policies and procedures for staffing and provides open communication with staff about scheduling requests/issues.
Acts as a medical social work expert resource, mentoring staff, maintains positive relationships, and builds teamwork within the entire healthcare team.
Maintains knowledge on guidelines, policies, procedures, and standards.
Provides input into guidelines, policies, procedures, and standards.
Acts as first responder for service recovery issues within the medical social work department. Acts as a resource person for staff questions related to job performance and departmental processes.
Provides guidance for and supervision of personnel accountable to manager.
Provides ongoing feedback to staff related to job performance (focuses on immediate performance coaching as necessary).
Monitors staff performance on a day-to-day basis.
Acts as role model, coach, and mentor to staff.
Communicates all staff behavior and performance issues with manager as necessary.
Participates in feedback in the evaluation process of employees at manager’s discretion.
Co-facilitates planning and conducting of shared governance meeting. Acts as mentor to staff chair of shared governance.
Facilitates medical social work and other unit meetings, reporting to manager.
Participates in recruitment, selection and retention of personnel.
Assists manager in the staff hiring process (e.g. assist with interview process).
Creates and supports an environment where innovation and creativity are encouraged and valued.
Facilitates medical social work and other unit meetings, reporting to manager.
Participates in recruitment, selection and retention of personnel.
Assists manager in the staff hiring process (e.g. assist with interview process).
Creates and supports environment where innovation and creativity are encourage and valued.