Social Worker - NICU (Inpatient and Outpatient)

Job Title: Social Worker - NICU (Inpatient and Outpatient)

Social Work Services at the Mount Sinai Hospital    

The Mount Sinai Hospital is a 1,134-bed facility with an extensive outpatient and specialty care network and is the largest hospital in the Mount Sinai Health Care System. It offers comprehensive social work services and programming to meet the myriad needs of the diverse populations we serve. We believe that total patient care must emphasize the physical, emotional, and social needs of each patient and their care partners. Social Workers collaborate within interprofessional teams to serve patients and the larger community from both a micro and macro level including both direct care and prevention. Founded in 1907, the Department of Social Work Services at the Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the oldest hospital social work departments in the nation with over 450 licensed social workers employed across more than 65 different program/service areas. Employment in our department provides a pathway to LCSW licensure as well as access to a broad range of continuing education, professional development and extra-curricular opportunities.

The social worker in this position will split their time between the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and the NICU follow-up clinic. Both positions require linking patient/family to appropriate resources, including early intervention; assess parent/caregiver mental health (including postpartum depression), identify any barriers to care and assessing social determinants of health.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

The social worker in this position will be one of five social workers responsible for the provision of social work services to all parents/families of newborns hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The NICU is composed of a large multidisciplinary team and requires strong, clinical, teamwork and collaborative skills. Infants hospitalized on this 46-bed unit (with surge capacity to 65) have a range of perinatal diagnoses including severe prematurity and life-threatening diagnoses which influence the need for crisis intervention, trauma focused treatment unique to this setting, supportive counseling with families and intensive discharge planning efforts on their behalf. 

The social worker will focus on following infants less than 33 weeks gestation or birth weight less than 1500 grams, with complex medical needs. This includes complex care management of high-risk families and for coordinating follow-up ambulatory care services with social workers in the Children’s Health Home and the pediatric developmental program. The social worker will help ensure a smooth transition of these infants into NICU follow up clinic.

Bereavement services for parents who sustain a neonatal loss are also an integral aspect of social work services on this unit. 

Neonatal Intensive Care follow-up clinic

The social worker in this role will follow all families referred to the NICU/preemie follow up ambulatory care service. The social worker will meet families that will be followed in this clinic in the NICU prior to discharge. All infants less than 33 weeks gestation or birth weight less than 1500 grams, complex congenital heart disease, seizures, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, others at discretion of neonatologist are referred to this clinic. The social worker will also outreach to scheduled patients as both appointment reminders and to inform of social work’s availability at their visit. Emphasis will be on assessing transition to home following NICU hospitalization. Social Worker will explore opportunities for program development and the implementation of a group for parent/caregivers and their babies. This position requires close collaborate with NICU follow-up team as well as NICU inpatient social workers. 

NYS LMSW or LCSW. 

Demonstrated clinical skills, working with children in hospital settings; preferably with high risk pediatric populations.

Strong team work and organizational skills. Interest in group work. 

Ability to work with a large population with intensive care needs.

Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred.

Minimum one year in current position unless a Float in Women’s and Children’s Health.

Compensation Statement

The Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) provides a salary range to comply with the New York City Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for this role is $85,279.91 - $97,760.36 Annually. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and