MLIS 2015
Clinical Social Worker
Paradise Valley Hospital
National City, CA USA

What I am doing now.

• Experience as the only full-time social worker for five acute departments (Telemetry, Medical/Surgical, Labor and Delivery, ER, ICU) as well as experience as a team member on the Behavioral Health Unit.
• Provide emotional support, crisis intervention and counseling, information and referral.
• Make referrals for financial assistance and supportive services to patients and families with problems that are related to hospitalization, illness, disability or trauma.
• Provide case management and milieu management, complete psychosocial assessments, assist in the development and re-evaluations of Treatment Plans and work as a member of a multidisciplinary team, and coordinate discharge planning.
• Complete necessary documentation and maintain clinical record for each client during his/her length of stay.
• Verify coverage & benefits with the health insurers to ensure the provider is appropriately paid.
• Assess all admissions for medical necessity and monitor patients’ treatment plan.
• Facilitated new partnerships with community organizations to ensure better discharge planning for patients.
• Created an official Resource Folder for hospital’s Emergency Department, specifically for when social workers are unavailable.
• Re-Created Department’s Orientation PowerPoint and present it at New-Employee Orientation each month.
• Recipient of two Star Awards and an iCARE award.

What are the most valuable skills I use in my job?

A hospital may not seem like the most applicable venue for information sciences, but you’d be surprised. I am the go-to researcher at my job. Nearly every day I am placed in a position of either playing detective (i.e., finding who someone is or where they came from in the case of them being intubated), or locating the most useful resources in the community. This makes me even more effective at my job, and for that I am thankful for the skills I gained in the MLIS program.   

Contact Permission

It is OK to contact this alumni.

Send email to: Christina P. Kantzavelos