What is a medical social worker and how to become one

Q: Do medical social workers wear scrubs?

Yes, medical social workers wear scrubs. Whether it's required is largely dependent on the hospital or care center facility. While many medical social workers wear scrubs, others wear casual business clothes.

Q: How much are medical social workers paid?

Medical social workers are paid $65,000 a year, on average ($31.41 an hour). There is some small amount of variability in how much a medical social worker can make, starting from as little as $55,000 a year to as much as $76,000 a year.

Q: What is the difference between a social worker and a medical social worker?

The difference between a social worker and a medical social worker is how they help families cope and improve the quality of their lives. A medical social worker sometimes referred to as a health care social worker, helps patients and their families cope with illnesses.

Q: What qualifications do you need to be a health and social worker?

The qualifications you need to be a health and social worker include the right combination of educational credentials and field experience. To make it in the highly competitive field of health and social work requires candidates to have solid academic preparation and internships or professional experience in a medical setting.

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted expert

Virginia Schwindt

Medical social workers work in healthcare settings to assist patients and their families with psychosocial needs that may arise from illness or injury. They provide emotional support, counseling, and resources to help patients cope with the challenges of their medical condition. Medical social workers may also assist with connecting patients to community resources, and addressing financial concerns related to medical care. Their goal is to help patients and families navigate the healthcare system and improve their overall quality of life during difficult times.

What general advice would you give to a medical social worker?

Virginia Schwindt

MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University

Take the licensing test as soon as you are able to, and be open to where you work. It is great to want a specific population or employer, but being open to other experiences may be where God wants you to be. Don't limit yourself because, as a social worker, you can do so many different things.

ScoreMedical Social WorkerUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,093

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.4

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.60%

Asian 3.32%

Black or African American 19.92%

Hispanic or Latino 12.27%

Unknown 5.43%

White 58.45%

Gender

female 85.69%

male 14.31%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

9.4

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.5

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a medical social worker?

Pros

Opportunity to help patients and families cope with health-related issues
Ability to work in various healthcare settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices
Possibility of making a difference in patients' lives through advocacy and resource facilitation
Opportunity to assist patients and families with navigating complex healthcare systems
Ability to provide emotional support and counseling to patients and families

Cons

Exposure to high levels of stress and trauma related to patient illness or loss
Exposure to infectious diseases and hazardous materials in certain healthcare settings
Potential for ethical dilemmas related to patient confidentiality or autonomy
Potential for secondary trauma from hearing patients' stories of illness or trauma
Possibility of dealing with insurance limitations or financial barriers for patients seeking care

Key steps to become a medical social worker

Explore medical social worker education requirements

Most common medical social worker degrees

Master's

48.1 %

Bachelor's

46.3 %

Associate

4.0 %

Start to develop specific medical social worker skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	24.02%
Patients	19.06%
Home Health	10.64%
MSW	6.52%
Patient Care	5.73%

Complete relevant medical social worker training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New medical social workers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a medical social worker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real medical social worker resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed medical social worker usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed medical social worker in most of states. 32 states require medical social workers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Kansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Master Social Worker
Alabama	Degree required	State exam required	Licensed Bachelor Social Worker (LBSW)
Arkansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Certified Social Worker
Hawaii	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Social Worker
Idaho	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Social Workers

Research medical social worker duties and responsibilities

Understand manage care, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.
Humanize the medical setting for elderly patients by using appropriate compassion in explaining complex information.
Provide crisis intervention, supportive counseling and trauma/grief counseling for patients and their families experiencing acute or chronic traumatic events.
Provide hands-on assessment and monitoring of suspect child abuse and neglect cases of children needing intensive rehabilitation and specialize care.

Prepare your medical social worker resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your medical social worker resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a medical social worker resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable medical social worker resume templates

Build a professional medical social worker resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your medical social worker resume.