This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application.
Applicants need to be fully qualified by the closing date of this announcement. Basic Requirements: 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 to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a Master of Social Work. 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 to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. Grade Determinations: Social Worker (program Coordinator), GS-12 Experience/Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience. Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring. Knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program. Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program. Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s). Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice. In addition, candidates should be able to demonstrate the KSAs at the full performance level (GS-11): Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Program coordinators at the GS- 12 grade level are administratively responsible for a clinical program providing treatment to Veterans in a major specialty area, such as but not limited to: Spinal Cord Injury, Homeless Continuum Veteran Program, Hospice and Palliative Care Program, Suicide Prevention Program, Veterans Justice Outreach, Caregiver Support Program and Community Nursing Home Program. The program coordinator may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at the facility and typically provide direct patient care services in the program area. The program coordinator oversees the daily operation of the program, develop policies and procedures for program operation, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may be responsible for the program's budget, developing and monitoring staff compliance with practice, standards and guidelines on documentation, workload, data entry, ethical practice and service delivery. The program coordinator provides analysis and evaluation of clinical program data and computerized programs to identify system-wide trends and needs to enhance the quality of service. They may be responsible for, or contribute to, the program's resource and fiscal management, monitoring control points developing the annual budget, operating within that budget, and accounting for appropriated funds. The program coordinator is administratively responsible for the clinical programming and prepares reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They provide leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned staff. They initiate and conduct a variety of program or service audits and complete designated clinical practice audits and reports, including productivity assessments. They oversee program operations and evaluations, identifying areas for improvement, gathering relevant data, assessing the data, developing and implementing ideas for improvement and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts. Preferred Experience: Experience in palliative care, inpatient medical/surgical care, social work care, or hospice care. Palliative care certification is preferred but not required. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. Applicants must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the applicant or others.
VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU The Social Worker Palliative Care Program Coordinator position, is within the Medical Service line at the VA Boston Healthcare System in West Roxbury, MA. The position reports to the Section Chief of Palliative Care. This position is Full-Time at 40 hours per week. The incumbent serves as a GS 12 program coordinator for Palliative and Hospice Care (PC) at VA Boston Healthcare System. The incumbent works independently and has administrative and clinical responsibilities for Veterans receiving palliative care. The incumbent manages , maintains a PC database in keeping with national guidelines an prepares annual goals and reports outcomes. The incumbent reviews and appraises the effectiveness of the Palliative Care Program in accordance with VA, VISN, VACO, and local facility policy and procedures. This Social Worker is the recognized expert in delivery of social work services to the most complex medical, surgical, mental health, and residential patients. As such, this Social Worker may be consulted daily by less experienced Social Workers and other staff about complex cases requiring advanced knowledge and experience. Duties and responsibilities of the Palliative Care Social Work Program Coordinator include but are not limited to: Directs/coordinates clinical and palliative services and is accountable for the overall effectiveness of the services provided. Administer information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to patients. Utilizes the national guidelines created by the VA Hospice and Palliative Care Program Office to assist the Outpatient and Acute Palliative Care Consult teams in meeting nationally recognized standards of care for palliative care services. Represents VA Boston PHC at the VISN I PHC meetings. Works in partnership with chaplaincy to develop, organize and coordinate bereavement services for the families of veterans. Interviews veteran and their family members/significant others to establish facts about the veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the veteran's functioning and health as part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment. Has the ability to service veterans who tend to have serious frequent and severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, poor self-monitoring, frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, have significant deficits in copying skills and require continuing professional psychological support. Independently evaluates the client's situation, including the veteran's reaction to it and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion. Based on the psychosocial assessment, uses professional judgement and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis. Finds a suitable means of treatment to help veterans and/or significant others cope with stressful situations. Develops psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for psychosocial clinical treatment. Adjusts psychosocial treatment plan in interventions based on changing needs and response to interventions. Participates in the assignment of veterans to treatment teams and programs. Organizes community services on behalf of beneficiaries, developing and coordinating procedures for use of these services by related staff. Receives and completes consults requested from interdisciplinary team member and from other social workers. Manages the quality control and evaluation of the professional services provided. Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5pm Telework: Not Available Compressed: Not authorized EDRP: Authorized - Contact Karen Chapman karen.chapman@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions or assistance on how to begin the application process. Learn more. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #:Social Worker (Palliative Care Program Coordinator)/PDF04584 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized NOTIFICATIONS: This position is a AFGE Bargaining Unit position. This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay. Travel to other Boston locations and CBOC's may be required. This position is in the Excepted Service. Current Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) will be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment. Veterans' preference does not apply for other current permanent Federal agency employees. Incomplete applications will not be considered.