Palliative Care Social Worker - Part Time

Bargaining Unit: EAP

Rate of Pay: $49.66/hour DOE 

Summary

Under the general supervision of the Administrative Director, provides clinical social work services to Palliative Care patients, their families and/or caregivers to assist them in coping with social, emotional and environmental difficulties related to symptom management, disease process that may or may not lead to terminal illness and death. Responsible for bio/psycho/social/spiritual assessments, interventions, counseling, discharge planning, consultation and coordination of program services. Also serves as Hospice Social worker as needed and oversees bereavement, volunteer and spiritual care programs. Assists with overall Palliative Care Social Work program development, implementation and evaluation.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Carries an appropriate Palliative care and Hospice MSW workload while providing effective services to patients and meeting productivity standards.
• Uses professional level communication skills when working with patients, families, providers, Cancer Center Staff, members of the Palliative care and Hospice Interdisciplinary Team and representatives from other agencies and services.
• Handles difficult interpersonal situations effectively. Problem solves and addresses conflict professionally.
• Completes bio/psycho/social assessments in a timely, concise, and effective manner.
• Records all patient/family and caregiver contacts in the Palliative Care or Hospice medical record in a timely, appropriate, concise, and legal manner.
• Effectively implements individual treatment plans based on assessments and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Performs all aspects of professional Social Work effectively; including but not limited to: psychosocial counseling, interdisciplinary planning for care, assisting patients with obtaining services, financial applications, live alone assessments, applications for assistance, and legal documents such as Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (DPAHC).
• Prioritizes needs and applies a variety of techniques to accomplish assessment and interventions appropriate to various age groups, complicated grief, ethical dilemmas and special needs of patients and families with a variety of cultural and ethnic perspectives.
• Performs all duties in an ethical manner protecting patient and family confidentiality.
• Serves as social work consultant and liaison to team, program, facility and community. Collaborates effectively with other Palliative care and Hospice social workers.
• Participates in program planning and implementation and evaluation of effectiveness of efforts to improve program services.
• Collaborates effectively with those responsible for bereavement services. When necessary, completes bereavement assessments, initiates bereavement care plan, makes bereavement visits and provides other follow up.
• Collaborates effectively with those responsible for spiritual care program in conjunction with hospital and community network of spiritual care providers. When necessary, completes spiritual assessments and follow up.
• Collaborates effectively with other members of the Interdisciplinary Group and hospital staff in admission and discharge planning for Palliative care and Hospice patients.
• Participates in program orientations, educational programs, as requested.
• Complies with Palliative Care and Hospice regulations, social work, hospital district guidelines, policies and procedures and nationally recognized standards of practice.
• Demonstrates continues enhancement of professional skills. Participates in a variety of Palliative Care and Hospice related activities that allow for collaboration with other counseling/social services professionals and interactions such as workshops, social work consortiums, or projects that enhance the practice of the individual social worker in the Palliative Care and Hospice setting.
• Demonstrates System Values in performance and behavior.
• Complies with System policies and procedures.
• Other duties as may be assigned.

Qualifications 

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Supervisory Responsibilities

No supervisory responsibilities.

Education and Experience

Required: Master's degree in Social Work (MSW) from an educational institution accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and 2 years’ experience working in a health-related field. Must have provided inpatient, outpatient, or consultative services to at least 30 patients during the past 12 months.

Licenses, Certifications

• Current California State LCSW license issued by the Behavioral Science-Examiners
  • Upon hire
• Current Nevada State LSW license issued by the State of Nevada Board of Examiners for Social Workers
  • Upon hire
• Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers certificate
  • Upon hire
• Employee will be enrolled in the Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) Basic Life Support (BLS) Entry or Prep Curriculum (depending on their previous BLS certification)
  • Within three (3) months of hire.

Other Experience/Qualifications

• Two years’ experience in family and individual counseling.
• Successful post graduate experience in one of the following areas: palliative care, home care, hospice, geriatrics, or oncology.
• Experienced in dealing with issues related to symptom management, chronic illness, death and bereavement.

Salary : $50