Careers > Healthcare Social Workers

Healthcare Social Workers

$60.28K Median Salary 20.4K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 13.2% Job Growth

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About This Career

Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.

Reported Job Titles

Clinical Social Worker, Hospice Social Worker, LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker), Medical Social Worker, Nephrology Social Worker, Oncology Social Worker, Psychosocial Coordinator, Renal Social Worker, Social Work Case Manager, Social Worker

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Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Oral Expression

Deductive Reasoning

Oral Comprehension

Problem Sensitivity

Speech Clarity

Speech Recognition

Written Comprehension

Inductive Reasoning

Written Expression

Fluency of Ideas

Information Ordering

Category Flexibility

Near Vision

Originality

Selective Attention

Knowledge

Psychology

Therapy and Counseling

English Language

Sociology and Anthropology

Customer and Personal Service

Education and Training

Philosophy and Theology

Administrative

Skills

Social Perceptiveness

Service Orientation

Speaking

Active Listening

Coordination

Critical Thinking

Reading Comprehension

Complex Problem Solving

Writing

Active Learning

Judgment and Decision Making

Monitoring

Persuasion

Learning Strategies

Management of Personnel Resources

Negotiation

Systems Evaluation

Time Management

Instructing

Technology Skills

Office suite software

Presentation software

Medical software

Data base user interface and query software

Desktop publishing software

Spreadsheet software

Electronic mail software

Word processing software

Internet browser software

Web page creation and editing software

Calendar and scheduling software

Mobile messaging service software

Tools

Notebook computers

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Abilities

Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Knowledge

Psychology: Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Sociology and Anthropology: Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Philosophy and Theology: Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Skills

Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.

Technology Skills

Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Medical software: Henry Schein Dentrix; Medical condition coding software; Medical procedure coding software; MEDITECH software
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Desktop publishing software: Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Microsoft Publisher
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Web page creation and editing software: Facebook; Google Sites; LinkedIn; Social media sites
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software
Mobile messaging service software: Intrado SchoolMessenger

Tools

Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:

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