Medical Social Worker - 20 Hours/Week, Day Shift

Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospital is seeking a full-time clinical social worker for our inpatient medical units.

Our medical social workers are part of a multidisciplinary health care team under the case management department serving both Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospitals. The Clinical Social Worker reports directly to the Social Work Manager. The social work role is essential for maximizing the quality of care for patients with complex medical and psychosocial needs. Social workers are actively involved in all parts of the patient’s care by providing bedside short-term treatment techniques to patients and their families, connecting patient’s to community resources, and actively support the patient through the care continuum. Population groups may include adult, geriatric, pediatric, neonatal, pregnant and parenting teens on inpatient medical and surgical floors and on an outpatient basis as assigned. Health issues addressed encompass safety, chronic disease, infectious disease, substance abuse and behavioral health, maternal and child health, and elder health. Our social workers provide clinical services to patients and their families to establish the best plan of care and helping patients maximize emotional, social and physical well-being through the effective use of health care and community resources.

The successful candidates will have an interest in the acute care setting working with patients and families presenting with a wide-variety of medical and psychosocial challenges.

Responsibilities include:

• Works effectively as part of a social work and interdisciplinary patient care team to maximize emotional, social, and physical wellbeing of our patients with complex medical and psychosocial needs
• Provides specialized safety assessments and mandated reporting when abuse or neglect is suspected for vulnerable populations (child, disabled adult, elder)
• Conducts comprehensive biopsychosocial needs assessments guiding bedside interventions and disposition
• Collaborates with and holds professional relationships with the interdisciplinary care team and outside community service agencies to optimize the provision of high quality patient care
• Provide information/education to patients and their families regarding assessment, illness, recovery and treatment options including barriers to care
• Participates in on-site and on-call duties as assigned. Performs other duties as assigned.
• Perform patient discharge planning activities such as family/patient education, nursing center documentation and make referrals to appropriate agencies
• Employs a range of direct clinical interventions including psychosocial counseling, adjustment to diagnosis, crisis intervention, care coordination, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, safety planning, grief counseling, resource referrals, and complementary therapies through a trauma informed care modality.
• Identify patients who are at high risk and/or have multiple or complex psychosocial needs
• Maintain appropriate documentation and records requirements including understanding of and need to follow regulatory agencies’ expectations and guidelines (i.e. DMH, DPH, JCAHO, Payers, HIPAA etc.).
• Advocates on behalf of patients and families to gain access to services and resources in areas of identified care gaps and based on patient / family needs and goals.

Professional Development:

• Keeps current with social work and health care developments pertinent to job and profession.
• Weekly supervised hours to achieve advanced licensure ( LICSW ).
• Participates in individual/group supervision as appropriate
• Is responsible for own professional development.
• Complies with licensure requirements.
• Pursues pertinent continuing education opportunities and professional activities in managed care, and care coordination concepts and practice and other related to job responsibilities and career goals.

Qualifications / Experience:

• Cultural sensitivity and demonstrated competency in age specific behaviors
• Experience in short-term modalities while working with patients and families across the life-span, protective services, child welfare, long term care, crisis intervention, chronic illness, hospice care, substance use disorders and psychiatric illness is preferred
• Demonstrated ability to understand the role of social worker in a complex, fast-paced medical environment
• Passionate, highly skilled and motivated to make a difference
• Demonstrated ability to understand the role of social worker in a hospital setting and to work in a complex, fast-paced environment.
• Ability to provide rapid clinical psychosocial assessments and brief, short-term treatment/management with individuals
• Demonstrates prudent clinical judgment based on established professional standards and guidelines, effective problem-solving skills, critical thinking, strong organizational and interpersonal skills, experience with team-based care, creativity, flexibility, and the ability to multi-task
• Most importantly, candidates must be committed the hospital mission to partner with community leaders and organizations to assess and meet the health care needs of the community incorporating the community health concepts of wellness, adaptation, self-care, and health promotion through prevention, early detection, early intervention, long-term management, and collaborative efforts with the affiliate organizations that make up the BILH system.
• Strong interpersonal skills enabling effective team collaboration.
• Excellent clinical assessment, verbal and written communication are a necessity.
• Completion of Master's degree in Social Work from an accredited institution
• One to three years of related experience working with individuals and families is necessary and experience in medical settings is preferred.
• Clinical experience, understanding of, and comfort working with patients of all ages who suffer complex medical and psychiatric problems; ability to work with the families of such patients, and ability to help patients and families understand and access the resources required to support care
• Ability to prioritize and manage cases in a fast-paced multidisciplinary environment.
• Experience with crisis intervention, end of life, substance use disorder, intimate partner violence, trauma, abuse and neglect (elder, disabled and child)
• Knowledge of community agencies/resources
• Massachusetts Licensure (LICSW or LCSW) Preferred New Graduates / License eligible candidates will be considered- position will be contingent on acquiring license within agreed upon time.
• Strong understanding of psychiatric and family system problems, and ability to use this understanding to formulate succinct case summaries
• Ability to advocate/negotiate systems for/with patients and families

Organizational/Administrative Skills:

• Maintains and completes hospital required trainings.
• Participates in Departmental and Hospital committees.
• Adheres to the profession’s clinical standards and Code of Ethics.
• Promotes Departmental and Hospital public relations.
• Adheres to the Department and Hospital standards, policies and procedures.
• Attends and participates in intra- and interdisciplinary meetings and staff meetings.
• Takes responsibility for own administrative duties, including timely and appropriate documentation in patient medical records, timely and accurate daily reporting of activities and Hospital's scheduling systems, and accurate reporting of time worked

As a member of Beth Israel Lahey Health, Beverly Hospital is committed to providing medical expertise and personalized care for an exceptional experience north of Boston. Beverly Hospital is a 227-bed, Massachusetts medical center and acute care facility that serves the healthcare needs of residents of Beverly and its surrounding communities. Inpatient care is available in the areas of critical care, general medicine, surgery, obstetrics, newborn special care, pediatrics and psychiatry. In 2006, Beverly Hospital was awarded Level III Trauma Center designation. Beverly Hospital has been named one of the nation's "100 Top Hospitals" by Thomson.

Addison Gilbert Hospital (AGH) is a 79-bed medical acute care facility located in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Specialties include acute and intensive adult inpatient care, cancer care, cardiology, pulmonology, geriatric services, endocrine, pain management, outpatient sleep, wound care and emergency medicine. AGH is part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.