Consider a Rewarding Career as a Healthcare Social Worker

Page 12 equal opportunity employment journal November 2020

Consider a Rewarding Career as a Healthcare Social Worker

Healthcare social workers provide support to patients dealing with chronic, serious or terminal illness, or who are temporarily disabled. They also work with the families of these patients. If this sounds like an interesting career, you’ll be glad to hear that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts fast job growth for all social workers through at least 2026.

Occupation Overview

As a healthcare social worker, you would help clients who are dealing with illnesses such as chronic kidney failure, multiple sclerosis, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. You might focus on the needs of senior citizens. Healthcare social workers evaluate various types of services and provide information and advice on these options for patients and their families. They

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also arrange for clients to participate in programs such as home meal delivery.

Places of Employment

The largest number of healthcare social workers are employed in general medical and surgical hospitals, reports the BLS. These hospitals provide diagnostic services and medical treatment for patients with a wide range of health conditions.

Additional job possibilities for healthcare social workers include employment with family services and other government agencies, community health centers, home healthcare providers, long-term care facilities, assisted living centers and outpatient clinics. Some find employment in specialty hospitals that focus on inpatients with a particular type of medical disorder. This includes hospitals that provide long-term care but are not nursing care facilities, such as rehabilitation hospitals for patients who have become temporarily physically disabled.

Salaries

Hospitals generally pay a healthcare social worker more than he or she would make in other employment settings. Healthcare social workers employed by general medical hospitals had an average salary of about $30 per hour as of 2017, or about $62,000 per year, according to the BLS.

The average annual salary for all healthcare social workers as of 2017 was approximately $56,800. That’s around a 14-percent increase from the yearly salary in 2010, which was about $49,000.

Getting Started

To obtain a position as a healthcare social worker, you typically must have a master’s degree in the field or in a relevant subject, such as psychology. Some entry-level positions are available for applicants with a bachelor’s degree. Licensing and certification requirements vary by state.

To get started, search for colleges and universities offering four-year degrees in social work. Another option would be majoring in a social science field like psychology and sociology. This would qualify you for a master’s program in social work after completing the bachelor’s degree.

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