Social work is a career for people who want to help others. While some social workers focus on areas such as domestic violence and child welfare, medical social workers specialize in helping families and individuals who are affected by some sort of illness or injury. Medical social workers should be emotionally stable, as they may have to deal with painful situations involving terminally ill patients.
Responsibilities
Medical social workers support individuals and families who are affected by illnesses or injuries that may impair their ability to function normally. They counsel patients and their families, as well as provide care, give advice and help make arrangements. It is common for medical social workers to work with cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease patients. Some medical social workers also specialize in senior citizen health by providing support to their adult children and caregivers.
Work Settings
Medical social workers practice in varied settings. Nursing homes, hospitals, government agencies, individual and family services, and home health agencies are just a few of the places that offer employment opportunities for medical social workers. It is common for these social workers to visit patients' homes after they have been released from hospitals or other healthcare facilities. Many medical social workers also run support groups.
Education
A bachelor's degree in social work is the minimum education requirement, but most medical social workers are required to have a master's degree in social work. Sociology degrees are also acceptable for this line of work. Individuals generally are required to take courses in psychology, sociology, social welfare, feminine issues and African-American issues. A medical social worker must also complete a certain number of supervised field experience hours, which often are in a clinical setting.
Licensure
All states require all types of social workers to become certified or licensed. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, two years or 3,000 supervised clinical experience hours are required for licensure of clinical social workers in most states. Medical social workers should find out what their state's requirements are for licensure before they begin their degree in social work or sociology to ensure eligibility.
Earnings
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical social workers earn about $47,000 a year on average. Medical social workers who work in general medical and surgical hospitals earn the highest salary, which is about $51,000 a year on average. The lowest average earnings are for medical social workers who work for individual and family services. These social workers earn an average of about $38,000 a year.
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