Interdisciplinary Expectations of the Medical Social Worker in the Hospital Setting

Abstract

Nearly 500 physicians, nurses, and social workers affiliated with four general hospitals participated in a mailed questionnaire survey designed to compare interprofessional expectations of the medical social worker role in the hospital. As hypothesized, physicians and nurses expect the exclusive role of the social worker to be more limited to working with families, resolving social-environmental problems, and providing referrals than social workers expect of their role. In general, physicians and nurses do not disagree with medical social workers on what social workers expect to do in the hospital setting; rather, they disagree more on what social workers expect to be their exclusive role. Furthermore, it does not appear that other groups discredit either the biopsychosocial health care model or social worker competency. Instead, these groups perceive the special focus of the medical social worker in the hospital as enhancing the environmental support and resources of the patient, viewing the patient's family as part of that support system. These other groups may not understand or accept the person-in-environment focus of social work.

Profession and Workplace Expectations of Social Workers: Implications for Social Worker Subjective Well-Being

“…Social workers might be labelled as resource brokers or referral personnel. Respondents spoke of tensions affecting their SWB as social work competed for equal footing alongside medicine and nursing (similar findings in other research: Ben-Sira & Szyf, 1992; Cowles & Lefcowitz, 1992). For instance, one respondent commented:…”

Interdisciplinary Medical Social Work: A Working Taxonomy

“…These functions may seem obvious and are recognized activities of medical social workers (Berkman, 1996;Cowles & Lefcowitz, 1992;Cowles, 2003;National Association of Social Workers, 1990). However, although limited by a single discipline's (social work) perception, the findings reported here are empirical and frame social work's disciplinary utility, skills, competencies, and expected outcomes in an interdisciplinary context.…”

“…Empirical investigations (Cowles & Lefcowitz, 1992;Mizrahi & Abramson, 2000;Netting & Williams, 1996) indicate that psychosocial assessment and intervention are no longer an exclusive domain of social work. There is, however, some agreement that clinical social work's primary competence is to address psychosocial concerns in the biopsychosocial context (Beder, 2006;Berkman, 1996;Cowles, 2003;Dziegielewski, 2004).…”

“…Existing literature on interdisciplinary medical teams has tended to focus on social workers and physicians views about collaboration (Cowles & Lefcowitz, 1992;Mizrahi & Abramson, 2000), efficacy of differing collaborative styles of physicians and social workers (Abramson & Mizrahi, 2003;Globerman et al, 2003), and social workers' perspectives regarding their roles in the medical setting (Abramson & Mizrahi, 1996;Cowles, 2003;Kitchen & Brook, 2005;Mizrahi & Abramson, 2000). Few empirical studies have investigated collaborative roles and relationships in the same setting or services (Mizrahi & Abramson, 2000).…”

Somatization and Engagement in Mental Health Treatment

“…Perhaps their absence in this setting reinforces the perception by providers and patients alike that social workers are ill equipped to address complex and holistic problems such as somatization (Lesser, 2000). Social workers are often relegated to the tasks of discharge planning rather than looked upon as a formidable discipline with mental health expertise and equal credibility with the medical provider (Cowles, & Lefcowitz, 1995). Social workers often compete with nurses and other disciplines such as psychology for counseling referrals (Smith, et al, 2003).…”