Ch. 3 Weekly Blog Reflection

Chapter three discussed the history of social work in the primary care setting beginning in the early 1900s, as a widely accepted attempt to understand the conditions a patient was living in and dealing with, that could be valuable to not only to the patient's recovery, but also to the root of the illness. Medical, nursing, and social work staff supported and worked with one another and were provided funding to offer optimum primary care for their patients, as well as, the publics overall health. Many developmental programs were on the rise and created numerous opportunities for prevention and early intervention of mass public health and patient issues. Over the years the split between private interest and public interest have dropped the support that social work had and have taken a toll on the present day "primary care." Presently, a rise has become evident in the need and importance of social workers in the primary care setting because of greater socioeconomic inequalities in the United States and all over the world (Cowles, L.A.F. 2003) and the effects that it has had on the public's and individual's health.
 The chapter also list the settings in which social workers can provide services in the primary health care field such as: primary medical care, primary prevention, and health promotion. In order to practice in such settings a social worker must obtain a certain degree of required knowledge and be trained to view a patient, the organization, the community, and the environment through a holistic perspective. Taking in to consideration the biological, psychological, and social factors that make up anywhere from an individual patients health all the way to the social epidemiology's that  are occurring.
 This chapter was very insightful and I found it surprising and continue to find it surprising how the need and importance for empowering and educating of others seems to provide higher rates of prevention and intervention, but we are still fighting to get all professionals to understand and fully incorporate social workers special knowledge and training into the primary care setting. This information will be helpful in my future as a social worker to recognize what has been done in the past and to continue to add to the foundation that others have built before me for the ultimate goal of empowering others to be able to receive optimum health care.

References:
Cowles, L.A.F. (2003). Social work in the health field. A care perspective. Routledge.