Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(2):62-69 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.037
Hospital Social Workers in the US
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Theology, Department of Ethics, Psychology and Charity Work, Kněžská 8, 370 01 České Budějovice
The article is addressed to a wide range of readers, from the public unfamiliar with the topic of social work generally to the experts who have not had a chance to know the specifics of hospital social work in the United States. The goal is to provide an up to date overview of the subject in the current post-presidential election climate. The article does not provide a deep analysis of social work methods. It rather analyses the selected characteristics that are important for defining the hospital social worker's current and future role in the US health care system. It briefly describes the development of the hospital social worker's status and his or her duties since the beginning of the twentieth century, the current job characteristics, and the educational necessities. It also compares their salaries in different regions in the US. The same method is used when dealing with the value of the hospital social work and the negative aspects of the job. Two research studies are introduced and the results of each are compared in order to prove and understand those issues. In the last part of the article, the current situation in the health care area is briefly described, focusing on the consequences of the cost-cutting political efforts for hospitals. Future demographical, cultural and racial issues in the US are brought up and the predicted figures are compared with the past ones. Those are put into the context with the hospital social worker's current and expected future role in the health care area. The conclusion synthesises used data and information and put forward the crucial changes needed in the future hospital social work field.
Keywords: hospital social worker, role, skills, qualities, salary, value, stress, cooperation, trends, costs
Published: September 30, 2017 Show citation
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