Pediatric Primary Care

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center:  Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of diverse individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your diversity of culture, thinking, learning, and leading is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

Pediatric Social Work

Job Summary:

JOB SUMMARY
Provides psychosocial assessment of and brief targeted intervention for social, emotional, and environmental issues that impact client/family’s ability to optimally benefit from care. Actively collaborates with team to meet patient care management and system improvement goals. Represents the Social Work department on institutional and community committees/task forces. Provides leadership for department committees/workgroups. Contributes to the plan of care with knowledge of population specific needs as it relates to the identification of patient psychosocial needs.

This position will spend half the time working on the DOSE Study, a multi-site 5-year clinical trial that aims to determine an optimal intervention strategy that can achieve effective weight loss for children with obesity. The patient population will likely have high social needs and many of the participants will reside in rural areas. We will enroll 450 children between the ages of 5-17 years old and their parents/caregivers from clinic sites throughout middle Tennessee. The intervention is specifically focused on delivering evidence-based content via telehealth or in-person counseling sessions in clinical settings. There is also an online on-demand intervention that has been developed to support the intervention delivery. The social worker will provide regular check-ins related to overcoming barriers to healthy behavior change in each participant’s local community. This position is tasked with helping facilitate engagement with local community resources, which is especially important given the variability on rural vs. urban participants in the study, These sessions will follow a scripted guide that begins by assessing 1) participant self-rated progress towards goals, 2) identifying any barriers, 3) reviewing the health behavior change content from the web-based modules to re-enforce key messages, and 4) helping develop problem-solving strategies to overcome barriers. A specific focus of these sessions is helping participants access any federal nutritional support programs (e.g., SNAP/WIC) for which they are eligible.

We are looking for a social worker with previous experience counseling families that match the targeted patient population. Experience in research is preferred, as the social worker will also be responsible for adhering to study protocols, monitoring fidelity of the intervention, and working as a part of the study team to successfully implement all phases of the study. Our research group flourishes because of a supportive team environment, so working as a part of a team is an essential component of this job. Because we work to meet families where they are, trainings and intervention sessions may take place on nights or weekends either virtually or in the local community context, which will require scheduling flexibility for the social worker. Bilingual in English and Spanish is preferred.

This social worker will also assist with the SHINE program (Support and Healing for Infants with Ante/Neonatal Exposure). Children in this program are ages 0-6 years.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Maintains professional documentation which meets department and VUMC standards as it relates to compliance.
• Provides brief targeted interventions for identified clients.
• Completes psychosocial assessment and assists team with the development of the plan of care.
• Provides education and or consultation to clients and families, treatment team and community.
• Contributes to the organization by actively participating in process improvement initiatives and shared decision making.

• Under moderate supervision, conduct and evaluate community and clinical research
• Collect surveys from participants in person or over the phone
• Must be very detail oriented in following the protocol while collecting data in community and clinical settings
• Regularly complete quality check protocols to ensure data have been entered correctly, efficiently, and effectively
• Be involved in data entry and data integrity with understanding of database systems (i.e. REDCap)
• Ensure clear communication between academic and community partners, as well as our lab team
• Demonstrate an understanding of acceptable research procedures and techniques
• Provide appropriate written documentation of meetings and results for dissemination to multiple stakeholders
• Participate in participant retention efforts
• Build and maintain rapport with families of pediatric patients
• Provide leadership through active involvement in complex clinical situations  
• Develop and manage system(s) for regular patient communication and multidisciplinary scheduling to support and promote regular clinic attendance
• Remediate barriers to care that arise and may be specific to this particular population
• Maintain current knowledge regarding potential barriers and available resources for pediatric patients, including those patients vulnerable to developmental delays and/or differences
• Maintain current knowledge regarding potential barriers and available resources for pediatric patients, including those patients affected by substance use and recovery
• Collaborate with clinical teams within and beyond the VUMC as needed to optimize care
• Collaborate with community partners and other related services to optimize care, including but not limited to follow-up, referrals, psychosocial supports, and financial resources

• The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.

TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES
• Risk Management (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate risk management of moderate difficulty. Capable of conducting risk analysis as part of a task to address problems including determining risk factors, probability, impact, early detection and prevention. Able to prepare simple contingency plans and alternatives.
• Crisis Intervention (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate crisis intervention in practical applications of moderate difficulty.
• Patient Assessment (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate patient assessments in practical applications of moderate difficulty.
• Patient Evaluation (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate the ability to conduct a patient evaluation in practical applications of moderate difficulty. Capable of effectively assessing the relative merits of alternative products or services.
• Clinical Counseling (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate clinical counseling in practical applications of moderate difficulty.

Allied health is among the fastest growing occupations in healthcare today. This area can be defined as credentialed professionals who perform supportive, diagnostic, and therapeutic health care services to promote health and prevent disease in a variety of settings.

These areas are crucial to Vanderbilt Health’s reputation for excellence in these areas that has made us a major center for patient referrals from throughout the Mid-South.

Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the southeast choose Vanderbilt Health for their health care because of our leadership in medical science and our dedication to treating patients with dignity and compassion.

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Core Accountabilities:

Organizational Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment. Breadth of Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area. Team Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues:- Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.- Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one’s own communication style to suit different situations and audiences. Delivering Excellent Services:- Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.- Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.- Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees’ effectiveness. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.- Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.- Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities. Fostering Innovation:- Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.- Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges.- Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications:

LIC-Licensed Master Social Worker - Tennessee

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level :

Less than 1 year

Education:

Master’s

Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. EOE/AA/Women/Minority/Vets/Disabled