Social work paper - Essay Example

“Victims of crimes, trauma, or abuse also may especially benefit from the services of a medical social worker” (Santiago, n.d., p. 1). I planned an interview of a social worker from Skilled Nursing Facility and took some important notes to share. In my area, some of the main agencies that provide similar health services to people include Crescent health Center and St. Helens Health Facility. Both of these agencies provide medical services to people suffering from different diseases and acute conditions, such as, chronic diseases, trauma, and wound repairs.

Social workers working in these centers assist nurses and doctors in discharge Planning, mental health evaluation, decision making counseling, crisis intervention, grief counseling, and child abuse investigations. Prevention of diseases and creating awareness among people about the severity of some particular diseases are the main social problems being addressed through the services of social workers in the field of medicine and health care. Social workers from this field not only assist medical professionals in the provision of best medical care to patients but also play a valuable role in creating awareness among local people about diseases, such as, causes of hepatitis and obesity.

Both of these medial problems can best be served through personal care because dealing with them requires extensive and continuous medical care once they become severe. Social workers educate people about the ways they can use to prevent these diseases, as well as the ways to deal with these diseases through medical care. They arrange programs, distribute pamphlets, and visit schools and other public places to spread precious information about these diseases. From the interview with the social worker, I found that social workers from the field of medical science enjoy their services in the provision of best medical care to patients when needed.

I found that social workers serve both long term and short term patients. Long term patients refer to the ones living in the facility, whereas short term patients refer to the patients who are there just for rehabilitation or respite care and will return to their previous residence. On the caseload of the social worker I interviewed, there are approximately 150 patients who require admissions, as well as quarterly and discharge assessments. “A typical day in a hospital may begin with a review of new admissions to the facility, current referrals and unresolved case issues from the previous day” (Santiago, n.d., p. 1). In the social work in health care, patients usually require intensive case management and referrals to various resources, such as, hospice care, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, foster homes, psychiatrist/psychologist/counseling referrals, etc.

Social workers usually spend some party of their day implementing discharge plans and resolving patients’ issues. Social workers in Skilled Nursing Facilities aid patients in becoming better transitioned in the facility and also aid and educate their family members about the SNF or Medicare/Medicaid programs which are aimed towards the provision of 24 hour nursing care, therapy (physical, occupational, and speech), dietary, business office activities, and social services. Moreover, they also provide education to the staff regarding