Medical Social Worker Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Social Work.
• Must hold the state-required license and meet the applicable state scope-of-practice board and licensure requirements.
• 0–2 years of related experience.

Responsibilities

• Assess patients’ psychosocial status, strengths, and needs as part of comprehensive assessment and care planning.
• Collaborate with patients and the interdisciplinary healthcare team to identify interventions supporting rehabilitation, treatment goals, and quality of life.
• Use patient education programs, social work methods, focused interventions, and quality-of-life measures to address barriers to treatment goals.
• Monitor patients’ adjustment to dialysis and provide interventions to support psychosocial status and quality of life.
• Provide supportive counseling within the scope of clinical training and state licensure, and goal-directed education and counseling for patients seeking transplantation.
• Refer patients to community resources, including home health and vocational or educational rehabilitation programs, and support access to those resources.
• Assess awareness of advance directives, provide forms and information, and facilitate discussions with patients, families, and the healthcare team as needed.
• Participate with the physician and nurse in discussions of patient DNR status to support informed decisions.
• Follow applicable social work and patient-function policies, and document interactions and interventions with patients and families.
• Provide psychosocial support and focused interventions addressing non-adherence, quality outcomes, and quality-of-life concerns.
• Participate in monthly interdisciplinary quality-review meetings and report quality indicators, including missed or shortened treatments, quality-of-life trends, and service recovery.
• Assess patients’ kidney-disease knowledge and barriers to treatment adherence; tailor education to patients’ learning styles, communication barriers, and needs.
• Provide information about treatment modalities and ongoing education regarding ESRD-related psychosocial issues and available support services.
• Facilitate transplant referrals and collaborate with the interdisciplinary team on transplant waitlist management.
• Review patient rights and responsibilities, grievance information, and facility policies with patients or their representatives.
• At admission, review required patient-rights, grievance, nondiscrimination, DNR, and contact information, and address immediate needs or concerns.
• Support referral and admission processes, including scheduling needs related to adherence and adjustment.
• Interview patients requesting discharge to identify underlying causes or concerns and communicate them to operational leadership.
• Liaise with insurance coordinators on insurance issues and educate patients about dialysis payment sources and entitlement programs.
• Notify the insurance coordinator of patient-status changes that may affect insurance, and refer treatment-bill questions to the patient billing solutions department.
• Assist with interviewing and hiring decisions for new personnel when requested by the social work manager or senior manager.
• Work with administrative support staff to maintain current patient resource lists, such as transportation resources.
• Provide staff training on psychosocial topics as needed, participate in weekly team huddles, and discuss urgent patient issues with staff.
• Adhere to caseload guidelines based on state regulatory requirements and perform other related duties as assigned.