Weekly reflection # 4

Hospital social work is growing and a lot of people are employed at public/private hospitals, and health care fields.   Many hospitals become the place of medical practice, and medical practice began a transition from social medicine to the medical model, and from caring to curing (Cowles, 2003).  As a result, the U. S. government can cut the use of hospitals and medical specialists.  This way, the government controls the health care inflation rate continually. 

Before, social workers largely depended on physicians and nurses’ referrals for identification of patients needing social work services.  Nowadays, hospitals identify and automatically refer the patients to hospital social work if they have some of the characters which indicate the social high risks.  If a patient who age is 65 or over is having a terminal or chronic illness and living alone, this patient will be referred to hospital social work.   

Social workers sometimes face a lot of challenges on discharge planning.  Even though some patients are ready to be discharged, social workers have to think whether or not discharging is a good idea for these patients.  In some cases, the patient has been advised not to climb stairs, yet lives in a second floor apartment without elevator access.  Another important thing that social workers need to pay attention is human diversity variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religion, and social class.  Social workers need to be aware of their clients’ belief.  For example, traditionally African-American people may believe in the conceptualization of health problems associated with natural, occult, and spiritual, whereas Hispanic-American may think of the health problem as God’s willing, and therefore, practicing unnatural ones would be evil.  

                                                       Reference

Cowles, L. A. F. (Ed.). (2003). Social work in the health field: A care perspective. (2nd ed.) Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.