The Emergency Department Senior Social Worker for Veterans provides urgent care within the Washington DC VA Medical Center. The team-based care provides Veteran-centered, recovery-oriented, and evidence-based care. The services will be provided to fulfill the need for 24/7, 365 days per year ED coverage and may work non-traditional shifts including weekends, evenings, overnight, and holidays, depending on their tour of duty. Various TOD options will be provided to ensure coverage.
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: Citizenship: United States Citizenship. (Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.) 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 tohttp://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work. Experience/Education: The candidate 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. Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going tohttp://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. English Language Proficiency: Dentists, including residents, appointed to direct patient-care positions must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 7407(d) Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Social Worker, GS-11(1): Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services. (b) Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational and other diversified backgrounds. (c) Knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures (i.e. acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology) to formulate a treatment plan. (d) Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical, and social problems to achieve treatment goals. (e) Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers, social work graduate students, and other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment. See Additional Information for GS-11 Social Worker Assignments. Senior Social Worker, GS-12: Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) 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. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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. Preferred Experience: None requested Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor and are generally sedentary in nature but may require occasional travel. Physical activity involves sitting, standing, walking, bending, stooping, climbing stairs, and carrying light items such as papers, books, or other supplies. The incumbent uses a computer and standard office equipment to complete tasks. The emotional demands can be stressful in working with the Veteran/Patient population and their families/caregivers. A level of self-awareness is essential.
The incumbent in this position functions as an Emergency Department Senior Social Worker for Veterans that are provided urgent care within the Emergency Department at the Washington DC VA Medical Center. The team-based care provides Veteran-centered, recovery-oriented, and evidence-based care in an individual or group format. The services will be provided to fulfill the need for 24/7, 365 days per year ED coverage. The incumbent may work non-traditional shifts including weekends, evenings, overnight, and holidays, depending on their tour of duty. Various TOD options will be provided to ensure coverage. Functions of Assigned Duties: The Social Worker duties of the position are 100% clinical and include, but are not limited to: A. Independently conducts biopsychosocial assessment of the Veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, family members and significant others. B. Independently performs case finding functions and outreach, identifying and screening Veterans for psychosocial and mental health needs. C. Complete Suicide Behavior Reports and Safety Plans for Veterans presenting with suicidal ideation or behaviors in alignment with established policy/procedures. D. Incumbent provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, and serves as liaison to family members. E. Has working knowledge and experience in use 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. F. Independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of Veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan. G. Responsible for educating the Veteran and/or caregiver of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker. H. Collaborate with treatment teams to develop a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment and a discharge plan for Veterans treated in the Emergency Department. I. Referrals for surrogate decision makers, guardianship and/or payee services, as recommended by the interdisciplinary team. J. Responsible for using the current social work resource file of VA and community social service programs and enhancing the content to the benefit of Veterans. K. Work to develop relationships with community agencies to promote collaboration in care and service agreements. L. Experienced in completing rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs. M. Provide education related to VA and community resources, entitlements, Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer veterans/families to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs. N. Review the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each Veteran being referred for mental health services. O. Educate the Veteran, their families, and the team of all the options available to them and will collaborate with the Veteran and family on the preferred option. P. Assist the Veteran and their family in dealing with the psychosocial impact of coping with chronic/disabling illness(es), onset of a catastrophic illness. Q. Enter all Veteran/family contacts in the electronic record using appropriate formats and templates. R. Establish and maintain positive working relationships with employees, volunteers, consumers and stakeholders within the VA and outside community agencies. S. Collaborate in the performance improvement processes and comply with performance measures as required by the VA for their specific population and/or program. T. Participate in activities that obtain feedback from internal and external customers and work to enhance services, as needed. U. May supervise social work trainees/interns, providing the incumbent has at least two years of post-graduate schoolwork experience. V. Other duties as assigned by management. Work Schedule: Week 1 - Monday - Friday 6:00 am to 2:30 pm; Week 2 - Tuesday - Saturday 6:00 am to 2:30 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000