Medical social worker vs counselor

The differences between medical social workers and counselors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a medical social worker has an average salary of $57,093, which is higher than the $36,225 average annual salary of a counselor.

The top three skills for a medical social worker include social work, patients and home health. The most important skills for a counselor are patients, crisis intervention, and substance abuse.

Medical social worker vs counselor overview

	Medical Social Worker	Counselor
Yearly salary	$57,093	$36,225
Hourly rate	$27.45	$17.42
Growth rate	9%	10%
Number of jobs	87,792	77,536
Job satisfaction	-	2
Most common degree	Master's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	45	44
Years of experience	2	-

What does a medical social worker do?

A medical social worker specializes in managing a patient's health care and welfare while communicating with guardians or families, focusing on helping them cope and understand the medical conditions and situations. They are primarily responsible for assessing a patient's condition to identify their needs, conducting interviews to gather background information regarding the patient and family, and referring any social service programs that may provide them with the assistance or help they need. Furthermore, it is crucial to identify any signs of abuse or neglect and conduct intervention procedures right away.

What does a counselor do?

Often, counselors are known to be the go-to person in times we are in need of emotional and psychological support. They help people to manage and overcome the issues which affect their mental health and well-being. Counselors face different kind of situations which may involve trauma, addiction, disabilities, abuse, suicide, anger management, career, and even personal relationships. They provide care, counseling, rehabilitation, and support services. Every counseling requires collaborative effort both from the counselor and client to become effective.

Medical social worker vs counselor salary

Medical social workers and counselors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Social Worker	Counselor
Average salary	$57,093	$36,225
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $77,000	Between $19,000 And $67,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	-
Highest paying state	Alaska	California
Best paying company	Health Advocates	-
Best paying industry	Health Care	Education

Differences between medical social worker and counselor education

There are a few differences between a medical social worker and a counselor in terms of educational background:

	Medical Social Worker	Counselor
Most common degree	Master's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Social Work	Psychology
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Medical social worker vs counselor demographics

Here are the differences between medical social workers' and counselors' demographics:

	Medical Social Worker	Counselor
Average age	45	44
Gender ratio	Male, 14.3% Female, 85.7%	Male, 38.5% Female, 61.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 19.9% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 3.3% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 15.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 3.5% White, 63.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	13%	9%

Differences between medical social worker and counselor duties and responsibilities

Medical social worker example 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.
Provide social casework to patients having difficulty in social functioning, primarily as it affects their health and emotional rehabilitation.
Facilitate family counseling, crisis intervention, and assessments of specials population including geriatrics, homeless and substance abusing veterans.

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Counselor example responsibilities.

Maintain a safe program through ongoing CPI training.
Utilize de-escalation skills (CPI) when necessary.
Instill confidence, improve all components of writing and reading, and study strategies.
Arrange ESL tutoring and perform as liaison between students, parents, and school administrators.
Advise students into their major field of study, and assisting them with choosing the correct curriculum.
Operate a full service litigation office that evolve from general litigation to criminal litigation to federal criminal trials.

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Medical social worker vs counselor skills

Common medical social worker skills

Social Work, 24%
Patients, 19%
Home Health, 11%
MSW, 7%
Patient Care, 6%
Crisis Intervention, 3%

Common counselor skills

Patients, 13%
Crisis Intervention, 12%
Substance Abuse, 12%
Social Work, 10%
Community Resources, 4%
CPR, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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