Healthcare Social Worker Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.
Healthcare Social Worker is Also Know as
In different settings, Healthcare Social Worker is titled as
- Clinical Social Worker
- Hospice Social Worker
- LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker)
- Medical Social Worker
- Nephrology Social Worker
- Oncology Social Worker
- Psychosocial Coordinator
- Renal Social Worker
- Social Work Case Manager
- Social Worker
Education and Training of Healthcare Social Worker
Healthcare Social Worker is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Healthcare Social Worker
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Healthcare Social Worker
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Healthcare Social Worker
- Bachelor in Thanatology
- Associate Degree Courses in Thanatology
- Masters Degree Courses in Thanatology
- Bachelor in Social Work
- Associate Degree Courses in Social Work
- Masters Degree Courses in Social Work
- Bachelor in Forensic Social Work
- Associate Degree Courses in Forensic Social Work
- Masters Degree Courses in Forensic Social Work
- Bachelor in Social Work, Other
- Associate Degree Courses in Social Work, Other
- Masters Degree Courses in Social Work, Other
- Bachelor in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Associate Degree Courses in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Masters Degree Courses in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Bachelor in Medical Family Therapy/Therapist
- Associate Degree Courses in Medical Family Therapy/Therapist
- Masters Degree Courses in Medical Family Therapy/Therapist
Training Required for Healthcare Social Worker
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Healthcare Social Worker in different industries are
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
- Mental Health Counselors
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Rehabilitation Counselors
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Social and Human Service Assistants
- Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
- Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors
- Health Education Specialists
- Psychiatric Technicians
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Psychiatric Aides
- Community Health Workers
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Occupational Therapists
- Family Medicine Physicians
- Psychiatrists
- Clinical Neuropsychologists
- Recreational Therapists
What Do Healthcare Social Worker do?
- Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.
- Investigate child abuse or neglect cases and take authorized protective action when necessary.
- Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness and to provide access to services such as financial assistance, legal aid, housing, job placement or education.
- Counsel clients and patients in individual and group sessions to help them overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and adjust to life.
- Organize support groups or counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, and supporting the client or patient.
- Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.
- Identify environmental impediments to client or patient progress through interviews and review of patient records.
- Utilize consultation data and social work experience to plan and coordinate client or patient care and rehabilitation, following through to ensure service efficacy.
- Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in clients' status.
- Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress according to measurable goals described in treatment and care plan.
- Supervise and direct other workers providing services to clients or patients.
- Develop or advise on social policy and assist in community development.
- Oversee Medicaid- and Medicare-related paperwork and recordkeeping in hospitals.
- Conduct social research to advance knowledge in the social work field.
- Plan and conduct programs to combat social problems, prevent substance abuse, or improve community health and counseling services.
- Plan discharge from care facility to home or other care facility.
- Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions.
Qualities of Good Healthcare Social Worker
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Tools Used by Healthcare Social Worker
- Desktop computers
- Notebook computers
- Personal computers
Technology Skills required for Healthcare Social Worker
- Adobe PageMaker
- Automated clinical information systems
- Calendar software
- Command Systems ComServe
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Database software
- Email software
- Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS
- Information presentation software
- Intrado SchoolMessenger
- James Frazier Associates DataStart
- Medical procedure coding software
- Medical records software
- MEDITECH software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Publisher
- Microsoft Word
- Patient electronic medical record EMR software
- Relational database software
- Social Solutions ETO
- Social Work Software ClientTouch
- Spreadsheet software
- Web browser software
- Web page design and editing software
- Word processing software