A medical social worker assists patients and their families in need of psychosocial help during their treatment. Your responsibilities include helping patients and their families to understand and handle emotions associated with their health conditions.
A medical social worker assists doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and other medical personnel to care for patients of all ages. As a medical social worker, you will help patients understand their illnesses and improve their state of mind by providing adequate information about their health conditions. You should be able to suggest solutions to emotional, physical, mental, and psychological issues. Plus, you will ensure that the patient's medical treatment and needs are met.
A Medical Social worker needs at least a bachelor's degree in social work. Some medical institutions might demand a master's degree as well. Strong oral and written communication skills alongside problem-solving skills are valuable skills for this position. You should be organized, patient, and be attentive to patients' needs. Medical social workers earn around $55,393 annually.
What is a Medical Social Worker?
What Does a Medical Social Worker Do
There are certain skills that many medical social workers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, emotional skills and interpersonal skills.
How To Become a Medical Social Worker
If you're interested in becoming a medical social worker, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 46.3% of medical social workers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 48.1% of medical social workers have master's degrees. Even though most medical social workers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Medical Social Worker Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a medical social worker can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as therapist, progress to a title such as case manager and then eventually end up with the title medical case manager.
Average Salary for a Medical Social Worker
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Medical Social Workers
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
5. Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA • Private
6. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
7. Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL • Private
8. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
9. Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH • Private
10. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
Top Skills For a Medical Social Worker
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 15.2% of medical social workers listed patient care on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and emotional skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Medical Social Worker Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Medical Social Worker templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Medical Social Worker resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Medical Social Worker Demographics
Medical Social Worker Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among medical social workers, 85.7% of them are women, while 14.3% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among medical social workers is White, which makes up 66.9% of all medical social workers.
- The most common foreign language among medical social workers is Spanish at 66.6%.
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Best States For a Medical Social Worker
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a medical social worker. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, California, Oregon, and New Hampshire. Medical social workers make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $75,638. Whereas in California and Oregon, they would average $72,521 and $70,531, respectively. While medical social workers would only make an average of $69,960 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Idaho
$63,889
Avg. Salary
2. California
$72,521
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$70,531
Avg. Salary
How Do Medical Social Worker Rate Their Jobs?
Top Medical Social Worker Employers
Most Common Employers For Medical Social Worker
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Hospice Management | $77,775 | $37.39 | 24 |
| 2 | Alacare Home Health & Hospice | $73,250 | $35.22 | 17 |
| 3 | Visiting Nurse Association | $72,265 | $34.74 | 40 |
| 4 | SouthernCare | $71,969 | $34.60 | 35 |
| 5 | PeaceHealth | $65,051 | $31.27 | 73 |
| 6 | Kindred at Home | $64,581 | $31.05 | 80 |
| 7 | VITAS Healthcare | $63,917 | $30.73 | 45 |
| 8 | DaVita Kidney Care | $63,095 | $30.33 | 18 |
| 9 | Boston Children's Hospital | $62,856 | $30.22 | 18 |
| 10 | Compassus | $62,814 | $30.20 | 18 |
Medical Social Worker Videos
Becoming a Medical Social Worker FAQs
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.
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.
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.
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.