Social workers practicing in health care settings shall engage clients and, when appropriate, members of client support systems, in screening and assessment, by
gathering information for use in developing evidence-informed care plans
. Screening for psychosocial issues is now common in health care settings.
Social workers thereby improve the quality of patient care by facilitating communication between the medical team and the patient and family; advocating for patients’ rights; following up with patients to ensure treatment compliance; advocating for changes in the way services are delivered; helping patients to become …
Their primary role
helps patients and families understand an illness, come to terms with the emotions of a diagnosis, and provide counseling on the decisions
. They are essential participants in the hospital medical teams; collaborating with doctors, nurses, and related health professionals.
Thus, social work–driven interventions—social workers facilitating access to multidisciplinary care and interventions—may potentially
reduce readmission rates and medical service use, as well as facilitate linkage to community-based social services to increase the quality of transitional care
.
The improved communication about the patient among social work, therapists, nurses, doctors and others in the patient’s care team
creates a wholistic approach to care and improves their health and wellbeing
.
What does a health care worker do?
A healthcare worker is one who
delivers care and services to the sick and ailing either directly as doctors and nurses or indirectly as aides, helpers, laboratory technicians, or even medical waste handlers
. There are approximately 59 million healthcare workers worldwide.
Health social workers
provide psychosocial support to individuals, families, and communities that are faced with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses, such as cancer, epilepsy, or AIDS
. They are also active in efforts to prevent illnesses.
- Identify a patient and family’s unique psychosocial needs, distress, or complicated grief.
- Assess and enhance patient/family strengths and coping skills.
Approaches to strengthening communication and relationships between patients and providers include
greater use of medical interpretation services, expanding the racial/ethnic diversity of the health professions workforce, and developing provider training programs and tools in cross-cultural education
.
Social workers can directly advocate on behalf of the patient by
facilitating communication with healthcare providers or arranging health insurance coverage
. Still, they may also advocate for patients’ rights in general through policymaking and thought leadership.
Social workers and nurses in hospitals often work together
on interdisciplinary health care teams
. Collaboration between these two professions can be enhanced through a better understanding of each other’s roles, skills, and practice expectations.
Social workers help and support the elderly in many ways, including:
Coordinating a transition from hospital to home, including transportation and after-care
. Helping with communication between health care providers, seniors, their loved ones and caregivers.
Social workers can encourage clients to
take an active part in identifying their needs and teach them how to register with an employment agency or find health services
that can empower them to become their own advocates. Establishing this autonomy is key to social work, which strives to build strength and independence.
Social workers assist people to cope with life’s challenges by
acting as an advocate to raise awareness for client needs and connecting them to solution-based programs and services
. CSW and LCSW provide individual, group, family and couples therapy.
Social workers may go about their advocacy work by
lobbying elected officials, working within their agencies to make a change, or by building coalitions around particular issues in the community
. Professional social workers empower communities to advocate for change, and they also do some of the work themselves.
Social workers
help relieve people’s suffering, fight for social justice, and improve lives and communities
. Most people think of social workers when they think of poverty alleviation and child welfare. Many social workers do that kind of work — and we do much more.
Person-in-Environment Perspective
. Social workers learn the value of an ecological approach in which a person’s well-being and health care decisions must be understood in the larger context of their lives, including their families, communities, and cultures.
Why is health and safety important in healthcare?
in health and social care
The main reason for health and safety legislation is
to protect people at work and those who are affected by work activities
.
Why health Care Is Important?
High-quality health care
helps prevent diseases and improve quality of life
. Healthy People 2030 focuses on improving health care quality and making sure all people get the health care services they need. Helping health care providers communicate more effectively can help improve health and well-being.
Social Health is a term that refers to
the ways in which people create healthy and positive interpersonal relationships with one another
. Having good social health helps people improve their emotional wellbeing and feel supported in their daily lives.
Child and family social workers
protect vulnerable children and support families in need of assistance
. Social workers help individuals, groups, and families prevent and cope with problems in their everyday lives. Clinical social workers diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional problems.
Training Services
The Medical Social Worker is responsible for the classification of admitted patients. They prepare social case studies, perform assessment of the psychosocial condition of patients and families and facilitates their needs as necessary.
Social determinants of health are
the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age
. They include factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care (Figure 1).
