The Social Worker independently provides clinical psychosocial and case management services at an advanced practice level to eligible Veterans and their families. The Palliative Social Worker is assigned to the Geriatrics & Extended Care (GEC) Service Line. The advanced practice Social Worker practices in the Palliative Care Consult Team and serves a patient population with highly complex health problems. 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. The basic requirements for employment as a VHA social worker are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. § 7402(b)(9), as amended by section 205 of Public Law 106-419, enacted November 1, 2000. To qualify for appointment as a social worker in VHA, all applicants must meet the following: a. Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. b. 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. c. 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/. (c) Different states have different levels of licensure or certification, making it difficult for VHA staff to determine the independent practice level. Each state, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia completed surveys identifying the level of licensure or certification allowing independent practice. Copies of the surveys are on file in the VHA Office of Care Management and Social Work Services, and a summary spreadsheet of the levels of licensure or certification is available to social work professional standards board members for purposes of determining whether the social worker's level of licensure or certification meets the VHA qualification standards. All states except California use a series of licensure exams administered by the ASWB. Information can be found at https://www.aswb.org/. The ASWB is the association of boards that regulates social work. ASWB develops and maintains the social work licensing examination used across the country and is a central resource for information on the legal regulation of social work. The ASWB offers three examinations. The master's examination is generally used by states for the independent practice level of licensure or certification, while the advanced generalist and the clinical examinations are used for the advanced practice level of licensure or certification. Differences between the master's and the advanced exams demonstrate the expectation that advanced practice social workers will have a more sophisticated knowledge of practice theory and its application. (3) Loss of Licensure or Certification. Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. d. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Senior Social Worker, GS-12 (1) Experience/Education. The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty. (2) Licensure/Certification. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure. (3) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes. (d) Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills. (e) Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area. 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. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. ["The Palliative Care Senior Social Worker performs specialized treatment of complex physical and mental illness for patients with advanced progressive illness, and those with a terminal diagnosis. The incumbent serves on multidisciplinary teams working with patients dealing with end-of-life issues, terminal or chronic illness and diagnoses. S/he may provide services in an outpatient clinics, , inpatient medical/surgical units, and provides consultative service to other areas of the hospital seeking input from palliative care specialists. S/he assesses patient and family needs, and completes biopsychosocial assessments, including multi-axial DSM-5 diagnoses; case-manages patients with ongoing needs; provides referrals and coordination of services and resources; counsels patients and families; provides inpatient discharge planning, including placement into skilled nursing facilities or residential care facilities; and provides counseling and assistance with Advanced Directives for Healthcare and Life Sustaining Treatment decisions. The incumbent works closely with the Palliative Care Team and provides cross-coverage as needed. The incumbent participates in education and training activities.\nSpecific tasks may include:\n1) Serves as the point of contact for all social work palliative care at the Providence VA Medical Center.\n2) The social worker will participate in the development, evaluation and communication of standards, policies and procedures and plans of care for palliative/hospice .\n3) Manage consults from within the facility, including determining if consults are appropriate, coordinating team meetings, ensuring communication with community hospice agencies and serving as a resource for VA staff that make community agency referrals for hospice/palliative care or respite care.\n4) Coordinates and monitors and act on referrals, assessment, tracking data bases specific to the program, complete documentation reports pertaining to productivity, trends and trainings.\n5) The social worker will identify and develop program resources in the community providing liaison with these providers for best care at end of life.\n6) The social worker will conduct goals of care conversations and provide veterans and their caregivers ongoing individual and family supportive counseling. The purpose of such counseling is to deal with the psychosocial impact of coping with chronic progressive and/or terminal illness.\n7) Educate the Veteran and/or caregiver of the available services and assist and advocate with establishing the appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker.\n8) The social worker provides education related to VA and community resources, entitlements, Advanced Directives/Living Will, Organ Donation, Life-sustaining Treatment decisions and will refer Veterans/Families to other GEC programs or appropriate VA resources for identified health education needs. 9) The social worker will evaluate program practices using relevant statues and regulations and act to improve identified deficiencies.\n10) Provides bereavement services to Veteran's and their family including bereavement assessment to identify and explore risk factors for complicated grief. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm\nFunctional Statement #: F04394\nFinancial Disclosure Report: Not required"]