Medical Social Work Research Paper

What is a Manager of Medical Social Services?
A manager of medical social services works in the unique field of health care related social work. These professionals work with clients or patients to help meet their psychosocial needs. Read more to learn how to become a manager of medical social workers.
What is Medical Social Work?
The goal of medical social work is to help clients deal with their medical conditions and meet their additional urgent needs. This comes in the form of social, financial and emotional support. Medical social work helps connect clients with the appropriate community or government resource. Medical social services managers perform important administrative and managerial tasks.
What Do Medical Social Workers Work Do?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), health care social workers provide people with the psychosocial support need to deal with illnesses and health conditions. This involves advising care givers, educating patients and offering counseling. Medical social workers help their clients find appropriate resources that meet their physical and mental medical needs. Medical social workers also work with foster, needy and school children. The ultimate goal of all medical

social workers is to help their clients overcome barriers to adequate health care. Managers of medical social workers continually monitor their workers’ case loads, make critical case decisions and work with other professionals and resources to help meet the client’s needs.
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes211022.htm
What are the Major Medical Social Services?
Medical social workers perform very specific functions.

For example, they perform psychosocial assessments to properly understand how to help the client. In certain situations, they perform risk assessments of self-harm, domestic violence and child abuse. They teach clients and their families how to access the appropriate resources. They provide various forms of client counseling. For example, they would counsel a client who is depressed or who has suffered sudden loss of vision. They also help their clients develop a post-discharge plan, which involves referrals to community programs and alternative government programs. A manager of medical social services must ensure that these services are properly performed and that all clients are treated

equally.
Where do Medical Social Workers Work?
Most medical social workers are employed by hospitals. They typical handle admissions and discharges that have specific needs. For example, they may help a needy patient without insurance find additional medical resources. Hospital social workers will have a caseload of patients who each have very different needs. They might help a terminal patient write their will and make decisions regarding their hospice care. Medical social workers also work in the field and visit clients in their homes. Medical social workers also work with schools to ensure that underprivileged children receive the necessary medical care they need. A manager of medical social services supervises a unit of health care social workers.
https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/home-health-services.html
What are the Educational Requirements?
Medical social workers must have a master’s degree in social work (MSW) from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Medical social workers will also have to meet state licensing and certification requirements. A manager of medical social services will have to have additional managerial experience and education.
To summarize, medical social workers help their clients meet their medical needs through a variety methods and resources. Medical social work provides essential health care support to struggling and marginalized people. Being a manager of medical social services is a challenging, yet satisfying career.