Career Center

0.5 FTE, 8 Hour Day Shift

At Stanford Children's Health, we know world-renowned care begins with world-class caring. That's why we combine advanced technologies and breakthrough discoveries with family-centered care. It's why we provide our caregivers with continuing education and state-of-the-art facilities, like the newly remodeled Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. And it's why we need caring, committed people on our team - like you. Join us on our mission to heal humanity, one child and family at a time.

Job Summary

This paragraph summarizes the general nature, level and purpose of the job.

Licensed Clinical Social Worker is the second and fully-qualified, full-proficiency level of professional social work for employees who are licensed by the State of California as Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW). Positions at this level are characterized by substantial professional responsibility and independence of action for providing social work services.

The Social Work Job Family consists of three levels of professional non-management social work in a health care institutional setting at LPCHS: Social Work Clinician, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Advanced Clinical Social Worker. This job family is limited to those positions that require a Master's degree in Social Work (MSW) from an accredited school of social work. As a member of a multidisciplinary health care team, medical social workers provide psychosocial interventions to patients as well as their families receiving services within any department of the LPCH. Work typically addresses a variety of biopsychosocial issues and includes an assessment of the social needs as related to the patient's health status and the development of a treatment plan, including advocacy within the organization and community, counseling, referrals and practical assistance necessary to accomplish desired objectives. Provides consultation, orientation and training to health care staff on the effects of biopsychosocial, cultural and economic issues on the management of patient/client health needs. Advocates for social work core values and ethics within Stanford Medicine and the larger community.

Essential Functions

The essential functions listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification. They are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.

Employees must abide by all Joint Commission Requirements including but not limited to sensitivity to cultural diversity, patient care, patient rights and ethical treatment, safety and security of physical environments, emergency management, teamwork, respect for others, participation in ongoing education and training, communication and adherence to safety and quality programs, sustaining compliance with National Patient Safety Goals, and licensure and health screenings.

Must perform all duties and responsibilities in accordance with the hospital's policies and procedures, including its Service Standards and its Code of Conduct.

* Makes mental health diagnoses as part of a treatment plan as needed.

* Provides individual/group clinical supervision to MSWs and student interns.

* Prepares and maintains electronic medical records in accordance with department and/or health system policies. Provides written and oral reports and hand-offs.

* Conducts psychosocial assessment of patients/families upon admission, annually, and/or as clinically indicated to evaluate social, emotional, and physical needs by applying social work theories and techniques. Identifies and addresses barriers to care.

* Collaborates with interdisciplinary health care teams to devise, develop, and implement patient/family psychosocial treatment plans, coordinating referrals to specialty and social services including entitlement programs and other care delivery systems, and recording progress notes and the provision of continuity of care.

* Helps patients/families cope with environmental and psychological issues of illness.

* Manages independently assigned caseload of varying clinical acuity.

* Engages in case finding for patients/families with potential psychosocial needs. Attends team conferences and participates in interdisciplinary rounds as needed.

* Provides supportive counseling, grief counseling, crisis intervention, and other therapeutic services to assist patients and families to face challenges such as coping with illness, processing medical information, and changes in the level of functioning and care needs.

* Provides psychoeducation to patients and families regarding adaptation to the patient's diagnosis, illness, treatment, and/or prognosis. Assist patients and families in the transition from youth to adult services.

* Participate in quality assurance and community improvement as they relate to social work services or needs of patients and families and contributes to the review and development of written policies, procedures, or guidelines related to social work services.

Minimum Qualifications

Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills and abilities as well as possession of any required licenses or certifications is qualifying.

Education: Master's degree in Social Work from an accredited college or university.

Experience: Two (2) years of progressively responsible and directly related work experience.

License/Certification: SW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) - Valid license as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) issued by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

These are the observable and measurable attributes and skills required to perform successfully the essential functions of the job and are generally demonstrated through qualifying experience, education, or licensure/certification.

* Ability to apply theories, principles and practices of medical social work and of social services delivery systems in a hospital or medical center setting.

* Ability to gather data needed to needed to assess needs of patients and families.

* Ability to manage a caseload, recall case details; maintain confidentiality of information; determine the appropriate course of action in emergencies and other stressful situations.

* Ability to provide written case narratives and reports.

* Knowledge of and ability to apply effective assessment, interviewing, and counseling techniques.

* Knowledge of and ability to apply social work theories, principles and techniques.

* Knowledge of hospital and medical center resources to access and provide for patient care needs, and act on behalf of client needs to obtain necessary services.

* Knowledge of needs, problems, attitudes, and behavior of hospital patients and their families.

Physical Requirements

The Physical Requirements and Working Conditions in which the job is typically performed are available from the Occupational Health Department. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job

Additional Information

Positions are allocated to one of the three grade levels in this job family. Positions in this job family are flexibly staffed from Social Work Clinician to Advanced Licensed Clinical Social Worker, which means that vacant positions may be filled at any of the three class/grade levels depending on qualifications; further, that employees may be promoted to higher levels in this job family when they meet the minimum qualifications and are recommended for promotion by management. Levels are distinguished on the basis of three basic variables:

1) qualifications, i.e., whether the employee is licensed by the State of California as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW);

2) the character of the caseload, i.e., the difficulty of the problems present in the assignment and the degree of professional skill and judgment required by the social work decisions and services they involve; and

3) the freedom of practice characteristic of performance, i.e., the extent to which the social worker's recognized competence is reflected in decreased supervisory control that allows independent performance of work.