Hospital social work

[un_sedentary]

Hi! So, before posting this, I googled for "medical social worker", "hospital social worker", "medicine social work case studies" and variations thereof, and found a lot of informative hits. However, most of them are American results, while my story takes place in Canada, and also the information on most of them is pretty broad and no longer

Comments

[chickenfeet2003]

When it comes to psychosocial support it varies a lot. Different hospitals and different programmes within hospitals have different policies and practices. One thing the MSW is almost always responsible for is discharge arrangements. They will usually be the one that arranges, through the CCAC, for any required home care. When my partner had very serious surgery at a downtown Toronto academic hospital she saw the MSW once or twice at the end of her stay and it was that person who organised the home care nurse who looked after her wound drains. There was no follow up after discharge.

There's also psychosocial support at the regional cancer centres but it varies a lot from region to region. One RCC is said to have a clown on the payroll. At the RCCs more PS care is provided by nurses than MSWs.

[un_sedentary]

Sorry for not replying until now, thank you very much!!! I appreciate all the input and info!

[scifishipper]

My general experience is that social workers have two main functions: 1) assess the client's immediate psychosocial needs (insurance, family situation, etc.) to get a sense of who the patient is and what potential discharge issues could come up when the patient is ready to transition home. If the patient needs help getting emergency Medicaid (in the U.S.), the social worker would begin that process right away; 2) to arrange home transportation and ensure that the patient has home care if needed (e.g. visiting nurse, home health aide, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, home-based psychotherapy, etc.). Social workers can sometime advocate for the patient with the MDs or nurses and can often be a comforting presence if a patient requests it. Generally, a lot of hospitals have a separate Patient Advocate who meets with the patients upon arrival and advises them of their medical rights (this depends on the hospital procedure and setup, of course

[un_sedentary]

Sorry I'm only replying now, but thank you very much!!! All the info is greatly appreciated!