Hospital Social Worker Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post presents in-depth information on the job description of a hospital social worker, to increase your knowledge of the duties, tasks, and responsibilities they typically perform.

What Does a Hospital Social Worker Do?

The hospital social worker is responsible for assisting in giving psychosocial support to groups, families and individual persons trying to cope with acute, chronic or terminal sickness.

The hospital social worker job description entails giving guidance to clients and care givers by providing patient education, recommendations, and referrals for other services.

Other duties they perform include providing case management or interventions targeted to enhance health, averting diseases and addressing obstacles to accessing good health care.

They may need to connect with other professionals to appraise patents’ physical or medical conditions and find resolution to their needs.

Hospital social workers may have to deal with possibly draining and emotionally intense situations where threats to identity may occur.

They must therefore be able to balance their duty as an advocate for the patient with institutional needs, and also be able to accommodate dynamic standards of health care delivery.

The social worker’s other tasks include organizing counseling on a short term basis, intervening in crisis, and offering information and referrals for patients and their relations.

Their role also includes coordinating patients’ intricate discharge planning and concrete service needs.

Most times, social workers at the hospital serve as authority in programs relating to community resources.

They organize all aspects relating to limitations to care with interdisciplinary team and ensure efficient, quality, prompt and cost effective results.

Hospital Social Worker Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Most job descriptions for the post of hospital social worker are similar to the example given below.

It consists of typical tasks, duties, and responsibilities usually performed by individuals who occupy such position in most hospitals.

• Give quality counseling to patients and assist them in recovering from sickness and adjusting to life through individual and group sessions.
• Make use of data from consultations and experience in social work to organize client rehabilitation and care, as well as ensure effective follow-up.
• Engage in services for patients, such as home visits as well as ward and office visits.
• Plan and support patients in coping with emotional, economic, social, and environmental challenges.
• Supervise, evaluate, and make records of patients progress in line with standard goals illustrated in care and treatment plan.
• Perform planning and administration of programs to fight social problems, enhance community health and counseling services, as well as avert abuse of harmful substances.

Hospital Social Worker Job Description for Resume

The hospital social worker resume can be prepared using information from the sample job description above in creating the job experience and other sections of the resume.

Hospital Social Worker Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities for Career Success

The following are important qualities, including skills and abilities that will enable the social worker perform efficiently as a professional in the course of discharging his/her duties at a hospital.

• At least a master’s degree in social work from a recognized institute of social work.
• One year current clinical social experience in an accredited acute care hospital or home care.
• Proficient in utilizing computer applications to input and extract data accurately, receive and send emails, as well as in making calendar appointments.
• Unique capability to manage time effectively and ability to create a schedule for own assignments.
• Must possess the ability to work efficiently with little or no direction or supervision.
• Outstanding reading, writing, and listening ability to a magnitude necessary to perform the job.
• Willingness to travel according to the standards of the job.