Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the U.S. healthcare system to its limits, resulting in the need for flexibility in care delivery. This study aimed to describe healthcare social workers’ scope of practice since the start of the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews for this qualitative study were conduct...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/2/174 |
| _version_ | 1797343725660143616 |
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| author | Tiffany Washington Terri D. Lewinson |
| author_facet | Tiffany Washington Terri D. Lewinson |
| author_sort | Tiffany Washington |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the U.S. healthcare system to its limits, resulting in the need for flexibility in care delivery. This study aimed to describe healthcare social workers’ scope of practice since the start of the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews for this qualitative study were conducted using the Zoom platform between July and August 2020. This study used a basic qualitative content analysis with integrated deductive and inductive coding to explore participant perspectives. Their scope was assessed based on healthcare social work practice standards. Four practice standards and eight themes that emerged from the data were knowledge and skills (care planning and intervention and social worker–patient relationship), workload sustainability (workload expansion and workload facilitators), interdisciplinary collaboration (collaborating beyond the scope of responsibilities and collaboration challenges), and cultural competency (institutional and societal). The findings add a deeper understanding of the roles social workers perform, how they think about these roles, how they want to be understood, and how they are best utilized in ways consistent with their training and expertise. Moving forward, healthcare systems may consider well-delineated roles and responsibilities for everyday practice and during pandemics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:51:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0b48ac4ecdee49d59ac1d5aa2adac6c5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:51:59Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-0b48ac4ecdee49d59ac1d5aa2adac6c52024-01-26T16:45:54ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322024-01-0112217410.3390/healthcare12020174Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19Tiffany Washington0Terri D. Lewinson1School of Social Work, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USAThe Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USAThe COVID-19 pandemic pushed the U.S. healthcare system to its limits, resulting in the need for flexibility in care delivery. This study aimed to describe healthcare social workers’ scope of practice since the start of the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews for this qualitative study were conducted using the Zoom platform between July and August 2020. This study used a basic qualitative content analysis with integrated deductive and inductive coding to explore participant perspectives. Their scope was assessed based on healthcare social work practice standards. Four practice standards and eight themes that emerged from the data were knowledge and skills (care planning and intervention and social worker–patient relationship), workload sustainability (workload expansion and workload facilitators), interdisciplinary collaboration (collaborating beyond the scope of responsibilities and collaboration challenges), and cultural competency (institutional and societal). The findings add a deeper understanding of the roles social workers perform, how they think about these roles, how they want to be understood, and how they are best utilized in ways consistent with their training and expertise. Moving forward, healthcare systems may consider well-delineated roles and responsibilities for everyday practice and during pandemics.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/2/174healthcareCOVIDsocial workscope of practice |
| spellingShingle | Tiffany Washington Terri D. Lewinson Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19 Healthcare healthcare COVID social work scope of practice |
| title | Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19 |
| title_full | Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19 |
| title_short | Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19 |
| title_sort | healthcare social workers scope of practice during covid 19 |
| topic | healthcare COVID social work scope of practice |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/2/174 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tiffanywashington healthcaresocialworkersscopeofpracticeduringcovid19 AT terridlewinson healthcaresocialworkersscopeofpracticeduringcovid19 |