JOB DESCRIPTION

PRIMARY FUNCTION

The social worker is that member of the core interdisciplinary group whose primary function is to perform an assessment of psychosocial symptoms of the patient and family, develop psychosocial outcomes for alleviating identified symptoms and help provide the psychoeducation, supportive counseling and casework interventions needed to meet these outcomes. The social worker also provides psychosocial education and consultation to the IDG.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Participates in the preparation, evaluation and execution of the interdisciplinary plan of care to assure that the highest quality psychosocial care is provided to patients/families and that continuity and comprehensiveness of care are accomplished.
2. Performs bio-psycho-social-spiritual assessments of patient/families, rather than diagnostic assessment.
3. Provides individual and family supportive counseling, rather than psychotherapy.
4. Refers patient and family to appropriate community resources as needed.
5. Maintains accurate and timely documentation in the patient medical record.
6. Attends weekly team meeting for plan of care review.
7. Participates in patient case conferences.
8. Provides psychosocial education and consultation to the core IDG.
9. Participates in psychosocial supervision meetings and other trainings. May provide supervision to other psychosocial team members, including social work interns at the direction of the team manager.
10. May act as the coordinator and communicator of volunteer interventions on the plan of care.
11. Provides bereavement care, including bereavement group activities.
12. Participates in psychosocial spiritual on-call rotation/schedule as assigned.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

1. Ability to travel per job requirements.
2. Thorough knowledge of community resources or the desire/ability to obtain this knowledge.
3. Knowledge of key psychosocial issues prevalent with terminally ill patients and their family/caregivers, including the knowledge of effective psychosocial interventions to address those issues.
4. Capacity to relate and work well with others as a member of an interdisciplinary team.
5. Excellent listening and communication skills.
6. Ability to be an effective patient and family advocate- both within the patient/family unit, within the core IDG, and within community agencies and the like.

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Masters of Social Work required from a school accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

2. At least one-year social work experience in a health care setting.

3. Experience as a social worker with the terminally ill and their families, preferred.

4. Licensure and/or Certification if required by the State (see below).

5. Equivalent experience or licensure may be considered where allowable by State Regulations (i.e. a BSW in FL or WI).

State

Minimum State License/Certification

Allowable State License/Certification

CA

MSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)