Healthcare Social Workers

Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.

Most important skills

Social Perceptiveness
Speaking
Service Orientation
Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Critical Thinking
Coordination
Writing

Key knowledge

Psychology
Therapy and Counseling
Sociology and Anthropology
English Language
Customer and Personal Service
Education and Training
Philosophy and Theology
Administrative

What the work involves

Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.
Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness and to provide access to services such as financial assistance, legal aid, housing, job placement or education.
Counsel clients and patients in individual and group sessions to help them overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and adjust to life.
Organize support groups or counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, and supporting the client or patient.
Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.
Identify environmental impediments to client or patient progress through interviews and review of patient records.
Utilize consultation data and social work experience to plan and coordinate client or patient care and rehabilitation, following through to ensure service efficacy.
Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in clients' status.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Conventional.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education: Master's Degree (70.4% of respondents)
Related experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (53.9%)
On-the-job training: Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (30.8%)
Preparation level: O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Licensing: Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.

Check before planning

Licensing for Healthcare Social Workers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	Very high	Higher on contact with others than 85% of occupations compared	85% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	High	Higher on dealing with the public than 75% of occupations compared	44% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Very high	Higher on teamwork than 90% of occupations compared	73% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Freedom to make decisions	High	Higher on freedom to make decisions than 66% of occupations compared	52% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom”
Time pressure	High	Higher on time pressure than 61% of occupations compared	41% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day”
Conflict situations	Very high	Higher on conflict situations than 95% of occupations compared	59% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	Very high	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 92% of occupations compared	52% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Consequence of error	Low	Lower on consequence of error than 64% of occupations compared	37% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: high
Conflict situations: very high
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
Consequence of error: low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions