Medical and Public Health Social Workers

The mission of health social workers (medical and public health social workers) is to offer psychosocial support to families, individuals and vulnerable populations in order to help them deal with acute, chronic or terminal illnesses such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. These professionals provide counseling to patients and give advice to family caregivers. On occasion medical and public health social workers need to arrange for at-home services such as care or meals-on-wheels. Besides, some of these social workers work on a specific population such as organ transplant patients or geriatric care.

Public Health Social Work

In addition, social workers may conduct research, get involved in policy development or advocate for improved services.

Medical and public health social workers may specialize in services for senior citizens and their families. They run support groups for adult children of aging patients and coordinate and monitor services including transportation, long-term care and housing. Often these medical and public health social workers are called gerontological social workers.

These professionals can find job in a variety of settings. They are needed at hospitals, governments, individual and family services agencies and nursing and personal care facilities. Medical and public health social workers usually work in an office or residential facility. Sometimes they must travel locally to meet patients or attend meetings.

Typically, medical and public health social workers work 40 hours a week. However, they sometimes need to work in the evenings and on the weekends.

Trainings for Medical and Public Health Social Workers

Most medical and public health social workers need a bachelor’s degree for entry-level work. Masters degree is required for more advanced positions. This degree level is required for medical and public health social workers in health settings and required for clinical work. The same requirement is for supervisory, administrative and staff training positions.

It’s good to note, that masters degree programs give students an opportunity to take a course load of concentration in their chosen field, such as medical and public health social workers. During their education, they can learn to manage large caseloads, perform clinical assessments, explore new social services methods and take on supervisory roles. It usually takes 2 to 4 years to complete this program. Although students do not need a BSW to enroll, a background in sociology, biology, economics, political science, social work and psychology is still recommended.

Typically coursework for public health social workers includes social policy, social work methods, social research methods, human behavior in the social environment, epidemiology, racial and cultural diversity and bio statistics.

Credentials are provided by the National Association of Social Workers. Credentials are very important for social workers in private practice due to some health insurance providers requiring social workers to have a credential in order to receive reimbursement for services.

Each state has certification, licensing or registration requirements for social work practice and for using professional titles. Keep in mind that standards for licensing vary by state. Most states require 2 years or 3,000 hours of experience for medical and public health social workers to become licensed.

With experience and an advanced social work degree medical and public health social workers can advance to supervisor, assistant director, executive director or program manager positions. Some of them may go into private practice, providing psychotherapy.