Historical threads in the development of oncology social work.

As the Association of Oncology Social Work celebrates its 25th year, we pause to reflect on the many historical threads that contributed to its development and hear from each of the presidents who helped create the organization, as we know it today. Set within hospitals, medical social work was born in the early 20th century. In the 1940s medical social work became necessary for hospital accreditation.

Real-time patient satisfaction survey and improvement process.

The purpose of this article is to describe how one multidisciplinary hospital responded to patient-satisfaction issues and improved communication throughout its organization by implementing a real-time assessment of patient and staff satisfaction for a faster and better-focused improvement process. The survey process is based on eliciting information from several different sources in a manner that allows corrective action plans to be made and implemented within 4 to 8 weeks of patient encounters. Organized groups can then review feedback from the implemented action plans within 9 to 16 weeks of patient encounters.