Serves as an integral member of a multidisciplinary inpatient care team. Provides comprehensive psychosocial assessments, coordination, and implementation of age appropriate social medicine services to meet the needs of patients/families/significant others in the hospital setting. The social worker encourages respect for individuality and patient choice, while collaborating on policies and systems that respect the cultural, religious, and ethnic difference among patients and families.

• Participates as a member of the inpatient multidisciplinary care team providing social medicine expertise in response to care team referrals and case finding of high need populations (e.g. new diagnosis, terminal illness, loss of function, lack of social support, grief and bereavement, homeless, complex finances, etc.).


• Completes psychosocial assessments of hospitalized patients. Identifies psychosocial needs, develops, and implements plan of care. Documents according to departmental standards, Federal and State regulations. Assures medical record documentation of patient interaction and related tasks performed in a timely manner.


• Upon referral or case finding, assists patients and their support system (e.g. friends, family) with coping strategies related to illness and hospitalization.


• Conducts social medicine consultation and assistance for cases involving abuse, neglect, advance care planning, and legal decision making (e.g guardianship).


• Provides information and referrals to community resources for post discharge support.


• Applies knowledge base, theoretical concepts, specific functional skills, and essential social values used to effect change in human behavior, emotional responses, and social conditions.


• Contributes to the patient discharge planning process by assessing patient and support systems choices and educating them on the risks and benefits of their choices to facilitate discharge.


• Assists with coordination of discharge plan and assures patients placement in appropriate community based settings from hospital.


• Provides information, resource identification and referral services, mediation services, advocacy services, and education to patients and their support system.


• Plans for and participates in development activities to keep abreast of current trends in medical social work. Participates in performance improvement. Implements Quality Improvement processes. Assists with development and implementation of departments annual work-plan. Performs clinical record audits. Maintains educational record and provides evidence of competency. Participates in departmental functions such as staff meetings, staff in-services, and committees, as assigned. Participates in orientation of new personnel.