Medical Social Workers: Current Roles and Tasks

Introduction: Concerning the professional duties of medical social workers, they can have effective role in the treatment process and solving the problems of clients. This study was performed to investigate the current roles and tasks of social workers in hospitals. Method: In this qualitative study, ۱۵ social workers of public and specialized hospitals in Tehran were selected using purposeful sampling. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interview and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: To determine the main concepts, after combining some of the codes, they were finally classified into ۱۳ categories and ۲ themes (indirect and direct care roles). The indirect care roles were categorized into ۴ categories including research in healthcare, cooperation with and membership in the treatment team and hospital committees, documentation, and the provision of financial resources. The direct care roles were categorized into ۹ categories, namely, psychosocial and financial support, educator, liaison, service provider, counselor, discharge planning and follow-ups after discharge, assessment and eligibility, crisis intervention, and client and system advocacy. Conclusion: Most of the roles derived from the analysis of interviews were specialized roles of medical social workers. But the tasks related to the roles showed that most of the tasks defined for the roles are either not professional or clear.

Keywords:

Medical social work , Hospital , Role , Qualitative study