Soc Work Health Care
January 2024
US healthcare remains a system in crisis, wherein spending outpaces other Western economies but health inequities match those of an emerging market economy. As a country founded in tenets of white supremacy, structural racism persists as evidenced by longstanding race-based disparities. Although the population health approach offers a potential framework for preventative and community-based health, without overt race-conscious design, race-based disparities will be replicated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City was in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and had to transform from a tertiary to crisis care hospital and increase its bed capacity by 50 percent to care for COVID-19 patients. The size, scope, complexity and uncertainty of this crisis was unparalleled. This article describes the comprehensive response of the Department of Social Work Services, one of the largest hospital social work departments in the country.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe current healthcare environment challenges social workers to balance multiple constituencies - organizational, payer-related, and professional - and convey the value-added nature of clinical work with patients and families. As healthcare systems move towards population health, leadership opportunities abound. This article provides an historical overview of healthcare transformation and its impact on social work practice, and describes strategies implemented to bolster the clinical focus and organizational responsiveness of Mount Sinai Health System care management staff.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Soc Work End Life Palliat Care
July 2011
In this article, the authors describe the development of a multidisciplinary, interfaith, grassroots community group of professionals and laypersons who have created a replicable model to enhance palliative and end-of-life care. The Collaborative for Palliative Care leverages existing community assets and capacities within the health and social service programs of Westchester County, New York, resulting in a unique public-private partnership. It has played a critical role in changing the culture of care for residents of Westchester who are faced with the challenges of serious and terminal illness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Given that 71% of caregivers nationally report that they are caring for someone with a long-term or chronic illness, providing support to families-from diagnosis to the bereavement phase--is essential.
Purpose: This paper describes an exploratory assessment of a hospital-based support program for family caregivers, the Caregivers and Professionals Partnership (CAPP) Caregiver Resource Center. The goal of the program evaluation was to understand the challenges facing caregivers who used the Center, how social workers intervened and the results of their interventions.