27/11/2015 - 12:41 pm

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Social Workers in Hospitals & Medical Centers

Social workers in hospitals and medical centers provide frontline services to patients with conditions spanning the entire health care continuum. According to a national survey of licensed social workers, hospitals are the most common primary employment setting for health care social workers (Whitaker, Weismiller, Clark & Wilson, 2006). For purposes of this document, the term “hospital” refers to the variety of general and specialized acute care medical facilities. Hospital social workers practice in increasingly specialized environments, and are frequently assigned to specific medical units that are based on diagnosis, age, or gender (Gibelman, 2005). (NASW Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice, Social Workers in Hospitals & Medical Centers)