Social work at the heart of the medical team

This paper proposes one model of hospital social work delivery services that places social work in a facilitative role within the medical team, and describes a pilot project designed to evaluate these services. Social work's role in this teaching hospital setting was tailored to provide patients and medical staff access to social work services upon admission, rather than at the time of discharge. This change places social work at the pivotal juncture to improve medical care and addresses the social, cultural and environmental concerns as they surface during patient stay. Unique to this demonstration model is the added advantage of placing the social worker at the hub of the physician-led medical team. Medical students, residents, and attending physicians all learn, observe, and experience the advantages social workers bring to the process. Educating medical students on teams with social workers bodes well for the profession. The authors summarize the program design, results and implications for social work practice in a teaching hospital setting.     

Community fieldwork collaboration between medical and social work students.

This article describes an educational demonstration in interdisciplinary community field experiences between social work and medical students at the University of Kentucky Medical school, the hospital social service department, the school of social work, and community social and health agencies. The pilot program in which students from different professions lived for 6 weeks in outling rural communities served by the medical center, provided an opportunity: (a) to study the feasibility of combining a borad community health study experimence with casework services in a hospital-based educational program and (b) to assess the benefits of early interdisciplinary community and clinical work between future doctors and social workers. Students saw the advantages of cooperative teamwork in studying community problems, and were able to apply classroom theory about community organization to real community situations. The organizational structure and staff resources required to carry out such a demonstration are described, and the implications of the training project are discussed.     

Community Fieldwork Collaboration Between Medical and Social Work Students

This article describes an educational demonstration in interdisciplinary community field experiences between social work and medical students at The University of Kentucky Medical Center at Lexington. The joint training effort involved collaboration between the medical school, the hospital social service department, the school of social work, and community social and health agencies. The pilot program in which students from different professions lived for 6 weeks in outlying rural communities served by the medical center, provided an opportunity: (a) to study the feasibility of combining a broad community health study experience with casework services in a hospital-based educational program and (b) to assess the benefits of early interdisciplinary community and clinical work between future doctors and social workers. Students saw the advantages of cooperative teamwork in studying community problems, and were able to apply classroom theory about community organization to real community situations. The organizational structure and staff resources required to carry out such a demonstration are described, and the implications of the training project are discussed.     

Introduction: promoting and maintaining a reflective professional staff in a hospital-based social work department

Promoting and sustaining a staff of reflective social work practitioners requires a supportive departmental structure and culture. Providing such support is a particular yet necessary challenge to social work administrators in the current health care environment. This article discusses an array of administrative strategies employed in one hospital social work department to promote reflective social work practice. More specifically, it describes the role of practice-based research in enhancing worker reflectiveness.     

Managing hospital census through physician/administrator teamwork

This article describes the process of successful implementation of a system to manage and control a hospital's inpatient census. The system has implications not only for every department, but for every profession within a hospital environment. Described here is the overall impact of the system within a hospital. Also presented are important factors which have contributed to the success of implementation in this complex setting.     

A WALK-IN AND TELEPHONE INQUIRY SERVICE

This article describes a study undertaken to evaluate the Walk-In and Telephone Inquiry Service provided by a social work department in a general hospital division of a large, voluntary, metropolitan teaching hospital. The major social work function provided in such a service is information and referral; to provide this service, a psychosocial evaluation and counseling are essential. This service is valuable to and utilized by many individuals, professionals and community agencies. It can become the point where individuals enter the health care system. Issues related to policy making, institional costs and cost benefits are discussed.     

Reducing older patients' reliance on the emergency department.

Older adults tend to avoid mental health services and rely on hospital emergency departments for medicalization of these conditions. An intervention was designed for use in emergency departments to refer older adult patients with mental and social health problems to appropriate services within the hospital and community. Most of the patients in the study used the services to which they were referred; further, the intervention was found to decrease repeat utilization of the emergency department. Social work practice and policy implications of the findings are also discussed.     

Issues for Hospitals in Educating Social Work Students for Social Work Practice in Health Care Settings

Conflicting values and issues emerge when hospital and professional school converge to educate the next generation of the profession. These values derive from issues of authority, responsibility, accountability, status, communication, and mutuality. This paper identifies their occurrence, describes a method for managing them, and delineates a hospital social work department's role in developing an educationally based, practice focused practicum site. The components and results of the relationship between the department and the school, including details of the practicum model, are discussed.     

Issues for hospitals in educating social work students for social work practice in health care settings

Conflicting values and issues emerge when hospital and professional school converge to educate the next generation of the profession. These values derive from issues of authority, responsibility, accountability, status, communication, and mutuality. This paper identifies their occurrence, describes a method for managing them, and delineates a hospital social work department's role in developing an educationally based, practice focused practicum site. The components and results of the relationship between the department and the school, including details of the practicum model, are discussed.     

The Challenges of Health Care Reform for Hospital Social Work in the United States

This article examines the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 on the practice of hospital social work in the United States and its implications for social work education and training. It briefly traces the history of hospital social work, outlines some contemporary issues in the health care field, particularly those that create persistent health disparities, summarizes the major provisions of the Act that have implications for social work practice, and discusses how social workers in hospital settings might respond effectively to the changes produced by the legislation.     

论医务社会工作参与医院志愿者团队的建立

本文旨在探讨本院社会工作服务部发挥其组织、协调、配合及支援等功能,参与医院常态化与突发公共事件下的两种志愿者库机制的建立,确保医院志愿者服务活动顺利开展。     

Key factors impeding discharge planning in hospital social work: an exploratory study

Despite its long historical tradition in Northern Ireland, there is a dearth of research studies on the role of hospital social work and the professional challenges involved at the health and social care interface. This is the first small-scale exploratory study in Northern Ireland that sought to identify the key factors that hospital social workers perceive as impeding their practice in the discharge planning process. A 15-item postal questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 hospital social workers from four hospital social work departments in a city in Northern Ireland. The study group comprised social workers based in a range of hospital directorates who had differing levels of hospital social work experience. Data generated from the questionnaires suggested that deficits in community resources impacted most negatively on social workers' practice in discharge planning. The length of time respondents had been in their current post was also shown to influence their responses to the perceived impediments in their discharge planning role. The implications of the study and recommendations are discussed in relation to in-service training, social work practice and continuing education in Northern Ireland.     

Dialysis patient characteristics and outcomes: the complexity of social work practice with the end stage renal disease population

This article describes a demonstration project designed to explore psychosocial risk and resiliency factors, social work interventions and health-related outcomes with dialysis patients. The study is unique in including an interdisciplinary research team to guide the process, using available data contained within the medical record and focusing on interventions and outcomes over time rather than at one or two points in patients' treatment histories. It demonstrates the complexity of practice with dialysis patients and the crucial role for social workers in enhancing patient outcomes. Secondary benefits of this methodology and implications for social work practice and research are discussed.     

Citizens Advice Bureau: advice on a trolley

To a hospital administrator, the way in which a Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and the hospital's social work department can complement each other is not immediately obvious. So when the social work department invited the Brent Mobile CAB to assess the possibilities of a bedside service to inpatients, the idea was greeted with some uncertainty. Graham Coomber, hospital administrator, Central Middlesex Hospital, and Denise Fears, organiser of the Brent Mobile CAB, describe the first three months.     

净现值法在大型医疗设备效益评价中的应用

净现值法指投资项目寿命周期内各年的现金净流入量按一定的贴现率折算成现值后与初始投资额的差如果大于零则该项目具有经济效益.以某医院放射科1台计算机体层摄影机为例,介绍了净现值法在大型医疗设备效益评价中的应用.净现值法可以科学地评价设备投资效益,弥补投资回收期法的不足,在实践中具有可行性.进一步完善医院信息系统是保证净现值指标更加准确的基础.加强设备可控成本管理,控制现金流出量是提高设备效益的有效手段.     

Does difference matter? Diversity and human rights in a hospital workplace

The urban hospital workplace is a dynamic environment that mirrors the cultural and social diversity of the modern city. This paper explores the literature relating to diversity in the workplace and then describes an urban Canadian teaching hospital's comprehensive approach to the promotion of an equitable and inclusive diverse environment. With this goal, four years ago the hospital established an office of Diversity and Human Rights staffed by a social worker. The office provides education, training, policy development and complaints management. The administration also convened a hospital-wide committee to advise on the outcomes, and to plan a process for diversity and human rights organizational change. The committee worked with a social work research consultant to design a qualitative focus group study, currently ongoing, to explore the perspectives of hospital staff. The lessons learned from the process have the potential to increase overall cultural competency of staff that can translate into more sensitive work with patients.     

The Functional Analysis Study

This article describes a recent study of how social work staff in a large medical center spend their time-the tasks and activities performed regularly. The value of this kind of study, especially a a first step in the development of a comprehensive quality assurance program for a department of social work services, is discussed.     

The functional analysis study: a first step in quality assurance.

This article describes a recent study of how social work staff in a large medical center spend their time--the tasks and activities performed regularly. The value of this kind of study, especially as a first step in the development of a comprehensive quality assurance program for a department of social work services, is discussed.     

医院专设机构引导民间公益力量服务医务社会工作

在我国医务社会工作本土发展的早期,引入民间公益力量,既有助于短期内提高医务社会工作服务能力,也有利于民间公益组织进入医院服务病友。通过某医院相关工作实践分析,发挥民间公益力量的专业特长运行医务社会工作的专题项目,可以促进医务社会工作常态化运行。进一步完善引入民间公益力量服务医务社会工作,需要医务社会工作部门规范相关志愿行为,协调各参与主体的关系,形成医务社会工作的合力。     

Discharge planning: professional perspectives versus organizational effects

The rise in legitimacy and visibility of hospital discharge planning has been accompanied by competition between social work and nursing over control of this function. The author used a survey of 229 California hospitals to test the hypothesis that the discharge planning process is the same regardless of the discipline or department in which it is located. The only significant difference among the social work, nursing, and administrative departments was in the type of staff used. Social work departments were more likely to have both a social worker and a nurse on the discharge planning staff and on the discharge planning team. The needs of the organization, rather than professional perspectives, drove discharge planning. More collaborative bonds between social work and nursing could propel system innovation and change.