Medical Social Workers: Current Roles and Tasks

Authors

  • Abri, Sareh - Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, School of Social Welfare, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan
  • Zahedi Asl, Mohammad Professor, Department of Social work, School of Social Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract:

Introduction: Concerning the professional duties of medical social workers, they can have effective role in the treatment process and solving the problems of clients. This study was performed to investigate the current roles and tasks of social workers in hospitals. Method: In this qualitative study, 15 social workers of public and specialized hospitals in Tehran were selected using purposeful sampling. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interview and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: To determine the main concepts, after combining some of the codes, they were finally classified into 13 categories and 2 themes (indirect and direct care roles). The indirect care roles were categorized into 4 categories including research in healthcare, cooperation with and membership in the treatment team and hospital committees, documentation, and the provision of financial resources. The direct care roles were categorized into 9 categories, namely, psychosocial and financial support, educator, liaison, service provider, counselor, discharge planning and follow-ups after discharge, assessment and eligibility, crisis intervention, and client and system advocacy. Conclusion: Most of the roles derived from the analysis of interviews were specialized roles of medical social workers. But the tasks related to the roles showed that most of the tasks defined for the roles are either not professional or clear.

Upgrade to premium to download articles

Sign up to access the full text

Already have an account?login

similar resources

A Close and Practical Association with the Medical Profession: Scottish Medical Social Workers and Social Medicine, 1940–1975

This study is concerned with the development of the profession of almoner (renamed medical social worker in the 1960s) in Scotland in the period from the outbreak of the SecondWorldWar until the mid-1970s. In addition to primary and secondary documentary sources, it is based on extended interviews with practitioners of different generations, the collected personal records of individuals, and a ...

full text

Bouncers, brokers, and glue: the self-described roles of social workers in urban hospitals.

Social workers delivering services in health care settings face unique challenges and opportunities. The purpose of this study was to solicit input from social workers employed in urban hospitals about their perceptions of the roles, contribution, and professional functioning of social work in a rapidly changing health care environment. Using qualitative methods, the university and hospital-bas...

full text

The Managerial Roles of Sports Clubs CEOs in the Current and Desirable Conditions

Today, the proper playing of managerial roles is of special importance in effective and successful management of sports clubs. The present paper aimed to study the managerial roles of sports clubs CEOs in Isfahan Province in the current and desirable conditions. Statistical population included all managers and directors of Sepahan, Zobahan, Foolad Mahan, and Gitipasand sports clubs (N=83), wh...

full text

Social Security and older workers.

Many observers have noted that the long-term decline in labor-force participation by older Americans may reflect the evolution of social institutions that effectively discourage work. Often cited factors include employer discrimination against older workers, private pension plans that penalize continued employment, and the Social Security system. Various policies, such as eliminating Social Sec...

full text

My Resources

Save resource for easier access later

Save to my library Already added to my library

{@ msg_add @}


Journal title

volume 8  issue 2

pages  96- 106

publication date 2019-10

By following a journal you will be notified via email when a new issue of this journal is published.

Keywords

No Keywords

Hosted on Doprax cloud platform doprax.com

copyright © 2015-2023