Case Scenario
When I started working as a personal support worker in a retirement home, I got an opportunity to work for the day shifts continuously for few days and I observed that one of the resident was given prunes along with her breakfast every single day. I wondered why Ms. X was given this every day and so I decided to ask the RN about this. The next day, when the RN came in for work, I went in and asked her my doubt and her answer surprised me. she told me that the resident is suffering with constipation for quite some time now and she is on multiple drugs for her other conditions and they didn’t wanted to add more drugs like docusate sodium or other laxatives to her chart and hence they took this natural remedy and it works for Ms.
…show more content…
Summaries provide with practice guidelines based on the evidence collected from lower levels of pyramid. Since my question is clinically applicable and is quantitative in nature, I decided to start my search from summaries to find out any practice recommendations as it would ensure the validity of findings with least number of error (6S Pyramid Summary, EIDM at Conestoga).
Search
…show more content…
2014 Aug. PMID: 25109788”
Reference
Lever, E., Cole, J., Scott, S. M., Emery, P. W., & Whelan, K. (2014, August 11). Systematic review: The effect of prunes on gastrointestinal function. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 40(7), 750-758. doi:10.1111/apt.12913. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25109788
Challenges Encountered Searching data for my question posed various challenges in my study. The research article focused on general topic such as gastrointestinal function rather than being specific on one function like bowel movement, hence it wasn’t easy to locate. Also studies regarding effect of prune on bowel movement are very limited and finding valid article with less bias was difficult too. The review article is constructed from the research studies conducted on general population, finding age specific effect was impossible due to the limitation in valid trials. However, using the filters like study type, year publication etc., helped me to narrow down the search and the content with much
Critical Social Work practice is an ideological framework that bridges the gap between a dichotomous approach, in which there is struggle between delivering services to the individual or targeting social structures (Salas et al., 2010, p. 91). A practitioner analyzes both the macro and micro levels to determine the best course of action (Hayden, 2016). York University uses critical social work as their framework to avoid a dichotomous practice by presenting an innovative mission statement which is in align with the theory’s principles shaping the profession.
An example of evidence based practice would be to find relevant studies for a specific topic area being researched. For example, to find the research paper titled ‘The efficiency of cotton cover gowns in reducing infection in nursing Neutropenic patients,’ the journal in which the article was published in this case, The International Journal of Nursing, would need to be found. Medline, an online database would be one method of finding this. A list of relevant search terms would then need to be researched by using the PICO Framework, this limits the search to only relevant items and ensures that a well built clinical question will then be formulated (Drummond,1998).
It is essential that when using evidence-based practice guidelines to choose a treatment, that variety of research methods are applied so that the best relevant data can be produced. Such methods include qualitative/quantitative research, randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews. Both qualitative and quantative methods produce valuable data. Quantative research produces numeric evidence that is necessary for practice and can be measured and qualitative research produces descriptive data about the subject by using patients views etc. which can also be applied to clinical practice (Broeder et al, 2010)
The LPN-Team Lead contacted the social worker about Dr. Sundaram’s patient. The patient is a single, Caucasian grandmother and mother of two; she is alert and orientated to person, place and time. The patient reports that she lives with her 16 year old daughter and 3 month old granddaughter. The patient states that she works two jobs, one full-time and one part-time job and she assist with the care of her new granddaughter while her daughter is a work. The patient report that she is feeling (angry) and hurt because her boyfriend of 11 years cheated on her when she was in the hospital and left her a month ago; this and the loss of her child last year at 6 months gestation in addition to her CHF, COPD and influenza appears to have left the patient feeling of depression and hopelessness. The social worker noted that the patient scored a 19 on her PHQ-9, although she denies thoughts of suicide at this time. The patient states that she suffers from insomnia and gets approximately 2-3 hours of non-continuous sleep a night.
Cunningham, M. (2012). Integrating Spirituality in Clinical Social Work Practice: Walking the Labyrinth (1 ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
One case that I have worked with at LINK involves an 18-year-old female. When discussing the client’s background and family situation it can be slightly confusing. In the client’s case record, it states that the client was adopted by a family when she was six years old and came to the United States to live with her adoptive parents. The client record also states that she does not have contact with the adoptive parents and that she eventually became homeless and stayed with a mentor who she now calls mom. According to the client, there is no contact with her biological mother and her adoptive parents are currently in Israel, but may be coming to the United States. The client also stated that she is not actually adopted by the person she currently calls
The social workers in both videos gathered information regarding each of the client’s issues. Another common denominator in both videos is that both of the social workers repeated what the client had said in their own words to allow the client to feel heard and understood. In the first video, social worker Karen asked direct questions relating to Mike’s alcohol addiction while also addressing how the addiction impacts his relationships including his marriage. Karen also addressed inconsistencies with the client doing so appropriately and quickly. It appears that in the first video, Karen focuses on the reality of the issue at hand to assist the client with establishing and accepting
Potter, J. E., White, K., Hopkins, K., Amastae, J., & Grossman, D. (2010). Clinic Versus Over-
As my role of becoming a justice based social worker and being exposed to new knowledge about oppression and privilege, I want to focus on the topic of race and White privilege to strengthen my knowledge and the knowledge of others on multidimensional levels. There are a few reasons why I have chosen an action plan focused on race and White privilege. I believe it to be a longstanding issue in our society, it is rarely discussed because of the uncomfortable territory that comes along with it, and more importantly, I would like to expand my awareness of how race affects individuals on different systemic levels and my awareness of my privileges can affect my role as a social worker. “Teaching about White privilege is fundamental to understanding
Identify and explain the three major sources of conflict and misinterpretations in social work practice: culture-bound values, class bound values, and language variables.
Interviewing and research skills are needed within the social work profession. Effective communication skills are one of the most crucial components of a social worker’s job. Every day, social workers must communicate with clients to gain information, convey critical information and make important decisions (Zeiger, 2017). This interview experience was an opportunity to explore the daily challenges and rewards of a licensed social worker. I was excited for the opportunity to interview a social worker in the gerontology sector as this is a specialty I am considering. This meeting allowed me to explore the educational steps of being a social worker, practices of the agency, the clients who are served, and the challenges the agency has.
To provide effective social services, a social work graduate must possess a multitude of knowledge, skills and abilities. This will be a reflective paper on everything that I know for sure as a student of social work who is about to go into the world of work.
1. Understanding of problems and concerns relative to social work: Describe your understanding of the social work profession and the problems social workers address by using one example to discuss a particular social problem and how a social worker could intervene.
This approach is called Evidence-based medicines study which require systematic reviews of both the current and legacy or prior literature which are then used as tools to thoroughly go through and survey the literature and analyze all the literature to avoid biasing towards any publication in a significant amount of time provided to the researcher. The search is performed using Complex Boolean queries. The Boolean queries are used to search in databases with millions of documents and citation entries. Then a final search strategy is determined, and all the documents that are retrieved are segregated according to their relevance. Other methods are also used to broaden the search such as manual searching of documents for conferences and looking up in citations forward and backward.
Social work research is a systematic and objective inquiry that utilizes the scientific method to solve human problems and creates new knowledge that is generally applicable to the social work profession (Grinnell, Wiliams, & Unrau, 2012). Findings from research in social work help social work professionals understand the impact it has on theory, practice, and policy formulation. The purpose of research in social work is divided into four categories: exploration, description, evaluation, and explanation (Grinnell, Wiliams, & Unrau, 2012). Those categories are typical used when there is a new study being conducted or for a study that requires more information. From research, social workers can apply their findings to real world problems their clients are facing.