Social workers play a critical role in dealing with the problem and thus promoting health care quality...
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| Medical social workers helps to raise health care quality. |
Hospitals are often overloaded, adding burden on clinical nurses and doctors. Social workers play a critical role in dealing with the problem and thus promoting health care quality.
It is common that patients and their families experience worry and distress stemming from hospitalization and illness-related pain. Many complain that doctors are not friendly, impolite or even rude and not willing to explain carefully and answer patients’ questions.
In fact, the main reason is that doctors are often very busy, tired and stressed because of heavy workload. They do not have time for the common pleasantries.
Patient care suffers when clinical nurses and doctors are overloaded with work and social workers can function as a bridge between patients and hospitals.
Social workers play a critical role in hospital settings by helping patients and families address the impact of illness and treatment. They can provide assessment and appropriate interventions to aid the patient in achieving optimum recovery.
Dr. Nguyen Van Xang, Vice Director of Khanh Hoa General Hospital says there are medical social teams engaged in organizing “charity kitchen”, supporting AIDS/HIV-affected patients and mentally-ill patients, etc.
The social staff are enthusiastic and willing to help families to deal with traumatic stress. The models have helped hospitals to reduce burden.
However, most medical social workers are inexperienced and untrained. So their work is not very effective.
It is urgent that medical social work should be developed. Medical social workers assess the psychosocial functioning of patients and families and intervene as necessary.
Interventions include providing psychotherapy, supportive counseling, or grief counseling; or helping a patient to expand and strengthen their network of social supports.
Mai Xuan Tri, Vice Director of Department of Labor, Invalids & Social Affairs says more effort is needed to raise public awareness of social work, provide social work training for medical staff and form social work network at hospitals. Medical social staff promotion is required to raise health care quality.
N.T
