Chapter seven discusses the role of a social worker in
hospice care. Hospice is a program and a philosophy not just a particular place
or setting. Most hospice care is provided in the home, however hospice agencies
sometimes follow former home care patients into nursing homes to provide
continuity of appropriate care. Some acute care hospitals provide hospice care
service on the hospital site. Client
problems and social worker functions relating to hospice care depend on the
type of organizational setting. “From the perspective of social worker
functions, the problems of patients in hospice care may be classified as those
associated with: admission to the hospice service, adjustment to the service or
facility, adjustment to the diagnosis, prognosis, or care plan, the lack of
information to make informed decisions and take control, the lack of needed
supportive resources, such as supportive tools and equipment, support services,
income supports, supportive environmental adaptations, and interpersonal
supports, and barriers to discharge from the service or setting” (Fort Cowles,
2003, p. 293). I think that being a social worker in hospice care would be very
hard. It is a hard job to get to know people and to watch them die even though
it is part of life.
Reference:Fort Cowles, L.A. (2003). Social Work in the Health Field: A Care Perspective. Binghamton, NY: The Hawthorn Press.
It is a very hard job for social workers or any person to do this kind of job. Physical and mental commitment is involved in this area. Even though the patient is not related to the social worker, seeing and dealing with this patient every day, the patient becomes part of the social workers life. And, it is really hard to see their patient suffering. Social workers understand that their patients rely on them, and trust them totally even though their patients can no longer speak.
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