Honestly feels like a lot of clinicians are trying to go part-time right now. keeping 2 staff days for benefits and picking up per diem shifts on platforms like shiftmed or nursa when you want extra cash is starting to look way smarter than picking up mandatory overtime for hospital management.
Are you guys seeing people do this in your region too, or are most people still sticking to 36+ staff hours?
guys, every time i find a vacant position, it says medical social worker. Can i apply to it if i am an AMFT? i dont understand why they specify if i can do the job too!!??
Hello!
Asking for all advice and support. I am a MSW student interning at a hospital and will be rotating with different social workers each week.
I currently work as a transportation coordinator at non profit that provides resources to cancer patients. I am pretty familiar with having to use critical thinking to assist patients and dealing with various barriers to care.
I am very interested in oncology social work, since this is the population I have spent the most time with, but I am very opened minded and excited. What advice can you give me? What population of social work do you currently work with? Lastly, what is like working with various physicians and nurses?
Thanks for the help and guidance in advance.
I started my new job as a hospital social worker about six weeks ago, and one of my coworkers told me I should get liability insurance just in case.
Where do people recommend going through? I thought the NASW had some on their website but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Sometimes providers will message me with the most specific circumstance requesting “resources.”
“Patient had baby via IVF. Please provide resources.”
“Patient makes $2k a month and will have to find a new lease in November. Please provide resources.”
“Patient does not have anyone to watch cat. Please provide resources.”
There are currently two directors of the social work department where I work. One (Leader 1) strongly advocates for me and has been pushing me to continue to advance and grow in my role, the other (Leader 2) takes any opportunity to tear down their employees and is notorious in the social work world for all the wrong reasons. Leader 1 is about to retire and plans to pass along their role to Leader 2. Both oversee the department equally, but Leader 1 took on the role of being my direct supervisor when there was a management change.
Leader 1 encouraged me to apply for multiple opportunities and has helped me to connect with a senior leader of the org to support my chances. For a separate opportunity, Leader 2 has the full decision making power. Leader 1 and my old boss told me that I would be a shoo-in for the position and I worked very hard on the application. Leader 2 just gave me a list of reasons why they would not allow me to pursue that opportunity, of which the reasons included conversations I had with Leader 1 about the exact same thing, and was told that I’d be great at. Leader 2 didn’t explicitly state that I would never be considered for that opportunity, but it was strongly implied.
I just feel very conflicted. I get that Leader 2 is basically getting the department handed to them once Leader 1 leaves. Leader 1 has always been such a good advocate for me, and I just feel so hurt by Leader 2.
For context, I am an LMSW, and new to hospital social work - about 9 months in, I’ve done work in community mental health and shelter therapy before this position.
So I have a doctor at my hospital who hates speaking to conservators, family, or any supports. We’ve been able to work around that so far, and she’ll make the occasional call here and there if she’s pressured.
Today, she asked social workers to ask if she can do med changes for patients when we do the initial calls with conservators. In light of what’s happening in the Lindsay Clancy trial right now, alarm bells went off for me.
I told my team lead I would not be asking conservators if the provider can make med changes unless they give me names and dosages of the medication, and what they plan on doing with it (adding, taking away, increasing/decreasing, etc.). That just feels like making myself liable if anything were to come under legal scrutiny.
So as someone who is new to hospital social work, I’m wondering - is this a standard request from doctors? Should I remain adamant that I will not be asking conservators general requests like that, and should I even agree to asking about med changes even with the details? Even by doing that, I wouldn’t know how to answer any potential questions about side effects, so I wouldn’t be able to provide informed consent.
My hospital is also new, about 5 years old, and we just had a change in leadership for social work to someone internal, so there’s no one from other hospitals with insight that can put the kaibosh on this. I am more than happy to advocate my position, but I want to be confident I’m defending the standard of care.
I'm not really sure if this is the place to share my question but I'm giving it a shot. I'm about to graduate from my undergrad program and want to pursue my master's but will also need to work (as most do now I assume).
I really really love the idea of working in a hospital but I also recognize that social work as a whole doesn't pay well. I'm hoping to diversify my qualifications to help in the job market and wanted to get opinions before I sink money and time into it.
Would it make sense to also take CNA courses or some kind of technician classes? Either as part time work in addition to being a social worker or as something to help pay for my MSW program.
Am I even thinking about this the right way? Any advice (even just to not do it) would be super helpful.
So I am being moved to another med surg unit after my boss said I was overwhelmed. I have a new colleague and she is learning her role still but doesn’t jump in to help. I’ve been staying until 7. The nurse manager n mds have been getting snippy ( half the time pts are medically uncleared).
My boss said after the convo I’ll be moved.
I also said how come my rn colleague doesn’t contribute in rounds. I’ve been working on really hard cases while my colleague hasn’t been jumping in. Am I being moved because they think I’m unable of doing my job? Or they want to see how the unit will function without me
hi all!
i start my msw in a couple weeks to hopefully eventually become a hospital social worker. my background is not medical or social work (i have a bfa in graphic design ) and im a bit nervous about my plans for the future.
im getting my msw and my school offers a gerontology certificate which only requires one extra class + practicum with older adults. my plan is to find my first practicum in a hospice/nursing home and my second in a hospital/medical placement. i’m not too sure if i can swing volunteering with practicum, working full time and class but i wouldn’t be opposed to it. my interests are palliative and end-of-life care, bereavement and grief counseling. my end goal is emergency department social work (but im open to anything!)
is there anything else i can do to make myself a desirable candidate for a hospital social work position?
thank you all! and thank you for what you do! 🖤
I’m thinking of transitioning away from management roles in nonprofit setting and getting into Peds hospital social work. It should financially be comparable if not a bit better pay/way better benefits. Am I making a mistake? Would you make this transition? Is the grass greener in hospital work?
I want more balance. More stability with the fed funding cuts to nonprofits. And to mix things up a bit.
There has been an uptick over the past week or so with ridiculous posts that have nothing to do with hospital social work. I am getting very strict about this and have decided to ban people who continually try to post and get around this rule. The overall whole point of this sub is for a place for hospital social workers to come and seek support.
This also includes posts looking for us to do your homework, try out your new app and overall help with medical advice or discharge planning for your loved one. This rule still stands even if you claim to be a social worker in another part of the field.
Have a good rest of the week all!
Nine years I have given to this role.
I have done everything I can for my patients.
And on Friday, I got put on a performance improvement plan that has little direction and details of what they want me to do better.
In my opinion, I am being penalized for being a good and ethical social worker.
Do I acknowledge there are things I need to work on? Yes.
But NOT what they are demanding I work on.
I cannot stand by while for profit companies railroad patients and their families into unsafe and forced discharge plans.
I will not tuck my tail between my legs and submit.
Their metrics have no consideration for the patient situation as a whole.
I have no support or understanding from upper management. NUMBERS is all that matters.
As much as I love my job, this makes me think it might be time for something different.
I just can’t anymore.
I work in acute psychiatric on the highest acuity unit in my hospital. I get the cream of the crop so to speak.
I have had duty to warn situations before where there was already a named victim or a therapist that was threatened.
I have a new situation and I’m looking for some feedback.
I have a person that I would call a legit psychopath right now. He has been stopped from doing a mass shooting more than once.
He has been obsessed with a girl since high school. She never dated him. She never wanted to. He wants to murder her with a firearm is what he reported today.
I can’t say to much specifically but he is well know by the police.
Here is the thing. At this time I only have her first name. No other information. I am working on that though. My thoughts are she needs to be warned not only is she being stalked (yes he is doing that) but she is in danger.
If I do find out the rest of her information how much can I legally say to the police to try to protect her? For example can I say he is in patient right now and where so she could have him served with a PFA? Or is that outside the bounds of duty to warn?
I’m really worried about this case.
Scared shitless honestly.
I’m in the US. Any feedback is appreciated.
I also find it interesting there is no actual diagnosis yet in the DSM 5 about people who want to commit a mass shooting. I’m guessing it will be coming in the next one?
Sigh.
after 15+ years working in homeless services, and the past 8 with people in active, chaotic drug use, I’m making a total shift to working in an outpatient heart failure clinic (thank you late-career MSW)!
I’d love to hear others’ experiences in this area and what I can prepare myself for.
As a doctor, I am in awe and cannot praise nurses and HCA’s for their provision of care for patients. Even when I’ve been admitted, nurses and especially HCA’s would almost keep bullying me to have a wash 😅
See I have always wondered as someone who is germaphobic and feels sick at the sight or even ‘thought’ of washing patients who are unwell, or gathering their body waste and other bodily fluids.
How do you stomach doing this at all, let alone every day?
I am convinced (especially in our current political climate) that it does nothing but it is a request I get at least once a month esp for dying patients.
Hey y'all.
I have an upcoming interview for the Psychiatric social worker position and was curious if there were any Social Workers in that role that can give me some insight
What does a typical note look like for you? Does it depend on referral reason? Do you include a full MSE? Appreciate mock examples!
I’m a senior BSW student at the University of Memphis and I’m starting to plan for after graduation. I’d really like to find a position around $60k if possible. I know that may be high for a new BSW graduate, so I’m trying to figure out which areas have the best starting pay and opportunities for growth. For those who graduated with a BSW, what was your first job and starting salary? Would you recommend DCS/CPS, hospital work, case management, government/federal jobs, or something else? I’d also love recommendations for certifications or experience I can get during my senior year.