This Social Worker position is aligned under Social Work Service and is locally titled Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) Social Worker. The Syracuse VAMC is a large social work service located in a highly complex (complexity level 1) VA facility, covering thirteen (13) counties and including seven (7) CBOCs. It provides diverse services to Veterans, families and caregivers, and is an affiliated tertiary care health care system.
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: 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 masters 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/. Exception. VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations. This exception only applies at the GS-9 grade level. For the GS-11 grade level and above, the candidate must be licensed or certified. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: Social Worker, GS-9 (1) Experience, Education, and Licensure. None beyond the basic requirements. (2) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Ability to utilize counseling skills when working with Veterans and family members. (b) Ability to assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members, and to formulate and implement a treatment plan, identifying the Veterans problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed. (c) Ability to implement treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups to achieve treatment goals. This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive, problem solving, or crisis intervention techniques. (d) Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients, staff, and representatives of community agencies. (e) Fundamental knowledge 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. Social Worker, GS-11 (1) Experience and Licensure. Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of a minimum of one year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings, (VA or non-VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level. (2) Education. In addition to meeting basic requirements, a doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting. (3) 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, educational, and other 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. Preferred Experience: Experience in case management and/or medical setting is highly 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-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-09 to GS-11. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.
The Social Worker is responsible for the management, coordination and provision of social work services to veterans and their families in primary care. The Social Worker collaborates with the primary care team to focus on health promotion, prevention and management of chronic disease. The Social Worker conducts assessments to determine needs of veterans and family members and treats psychosocial and environmental factors that impact the patient's ability to achieve maximum health and wellness. Incumbent is an active participant in the treatment planning process with other disciplines and participates in team huddles as a member of the interdisciplinary team. Social Worker reviews options with patient and family and is responsible for ensuring that a treatment plan is based on the patient's identified concerns and goals are established. Considers medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, treatment procedures, and common medications and their effects to formulate a treatment plan. The incumbent provides a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes individual, family and group counseling, case management, discharge planning, and other services as appropriate. The Social Worker provides individual, family and group counseling as appropriate. The incumbent provides consultation/education to Veterans and families on internal, Governmental agencies, and community resources. The Social Worker acts as a consultant to other team/staff members. This includes providing consultation/education to interdisciplinary team members and medical residents on social work practice and VA policy and procedure. The Social Worker acts as liaison between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed. The incumbent assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness and death. The Social Worker is responsible for documenting social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record and ensuring appropriate hand off when transferring patient care. Maintains data and statistical compilations to comply with JCAHO, VA and medical center policy and procedures. The social worker participates in committee assignments, discipline specific meetings and initiatives, as deemed necessary by the service manager. May participate in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends. May provide supervision to a Social Work intern or be generally involved in the MSW training program. May provide orientation and/or consultation to less experienced Social Workers. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday from 8:00am to 4:3pm Permanent Change of Station: Not authorized. Telework: Not eligible for telework. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 21T57A Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized