Social Worker - Case Management
About The Position
Under the direction of the Department Director, the Social Worker coordinates patient care from pre-admission through hospitalization and post-discharge follow-up. The role emphasizes collaboration with patients and families, clinical nurses, physicians, and other health team members to address patients’ physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. The Social Worker helps patients and families cope with severe or long-term illness and challenges related to recovery and rehabilitation. This includes gathering psychosocial histories, addressing environmental difficulties that interfere with medical care, and conducting routine discharge planning. The role maintains and updates social work case records, refers patients to appropriate community resources, and uses a case-management problem-solving process involving assessment, problem identification, goal definition, plan development, evaluation, and plan revision to achieve optimum patient outcomes. The position is PRN and scheduled for weekends.
Requirements
- Approximately six to twelve months of on-the-job experience to gain full knowledge of regulations related to discharge planning and of health and welfare resources and facilities.
- Current state license as a Social Worker or Professional Counselor.
- Current American Heart Association Healthcare Provider certification.
- Knowledge of social work or licensed professional counselor theories, therapies, and casework processes.
- Interpersonal skills to obtain information from patients and families, provide counseling, and interact effectively with families and hospital patient-care personnel.
- Analytical skills to assess patient needs, develop discharge plans, and provide sound advice and guidance.
- Ability to concentrate and pay close attention to detail for up to fifty percent of work time.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree in Social Work with coursework in Medical Social Work from an accredited graduate school of social work is preferred.
Responsibilities
- Coordinate patient care from pre-admission through hospitalization and post-discharge follow-up in collaboration with patients, families, nurses, physicians, and other health team members.
- Help patients and families cope with problems arising from severe or long-term illness and difficulties in recovery and rehabilitation.
- Interview patients and families to assess social, financial, environmental, and psychosocial circumstances and obtain psychosocial histories.
- Review information from patient care staff and medical records to identify patient needs.
- Address environmental difficulties that interfere with patients’ ability to benefit from medical care.
- Maintain a caseload of more difficult or complex patient care problems.
- Participate in conferences with health-care professionals and communicate environmental problems that may affect a patient’s response to treatment.
- Communicate with physicians as a patient’s condition warrants and evaluate patients’ psychosocial adaptation to the hospital environment.
- Prepare and update patient records documenting social problems, patient and family progress, and treatment administered.
- Refer patients to designated community agencies or resources for financial assistance, counseling, and other support.
- Assess patients on admission for discharge-planning and educational needs, plan their care, and ensure patient and family teaching is complete.
- Use a case-management process of assessment, problem identification, goal definition, plan development, evaluation, and plan revision.
- Follow HIPAA guidelines and support patient and employee safety through proper identification, reporting, documentation, and prevention of medical errors.
- Demonstrate accountability, responsibility, leadership, and precise verbal and written communication while collaborating with team members.
- Maintain knowledge of developments in the field through relevant literature and attendance at seminars and conferences.
- Uphold the organization’s Standards of Conduct and Corporate Compliance, follow relevant compliance policies, complete compliance education as requested, and set an example for staff.
