Role expectations of social workers and other health professionals

Association Between Dentist-Dental Hygienist Communication and Dental Treatment Outcomes

Communication between physician and patient is critical in all fields of medicine, and various types of communication exist in healthcare settings. Cooperation among healthcare professionals is thought to be essential in providing high-quality services. Dental hygienists are key team members in the provision of dental care, and are known to play an important role in the health of their patients. This study aimed to determine the effect of communication between dentists and hygienists on patient satisfaction. Study subjects were dentists, patients, and dental hygienists, and we examined how dentist-dental hygienist communication affected patient outcome indices. A significant difference was observed only for satisfaction in terms of meeting expectations (p = 0.035). Results for patient satisfaction indicated significant differences in explanatory behavior in dentist-dental hygienist evaluations (p = 0.001). The results showed improved health and reduced fear, indicating significant differences for the dentist-dental hygienist evaluations in explanation behavior (p = 0.016). Our evaluation of the effects of dentist-dental hygienist communication on patient outcomes indicated a significant correlation, suggesting that inter-professional communication in the field of dentistry affects patient satisfaction.

Social workers in pediatric primary care: communication, gender, and scope of practice

While many child mental health issues manifest themselves in primary care, few pediatricians have received mental health training, and their communication with social workers may be limited due to unfamiliarity with mental health professions. The purpose of this study was to use ethnographic interviews to investigate factors affecting communication satisfaction between social workers and pediatricians. The study found that scope of practice issues were a communication barrier. This barrier is significant because health reform may lead social workers and pediatricians to collaborate more frequently in the future.

Social work at the Chinese Medicine system in Hong Kong: opportunities and challenges

Dealing with health and disease is an area of concern for social workers. The establishment of medical social service in a health setting has more than 100 years of history in the USA and more than 60 years in Hong Kong. Despite the increasing popularity of Chinese Medicine (CM) used by the Hong Kong people, there has been no medical social service presence in the CM system. A pilot project demonstrated a successful interdisciplinary collaboration model between social work and CM irrespective of different social work methods, that is, individual work, groupwork, and community-based services. In this article, we will relate the opportunities and difficulties that we encountered in setting up the first medical social service in the CM system. Drawing on our experience, we found that both professions benefited from the interdisciplinary collaboration. CM was able to expand its scope of service to increase the service quality and promote primary health care in the community with the support of social work. Conversely, social workers found that CM is a good resource for providing innovative services to meet the various needs of the people in the community. There was also a ripple effect of incorporating CM elements into social service. The interface between the disciplines of social work and CM can widen the scope of their contributions on health. Implications for CM social service in social work will also be examined.

Understanding collaboration between social workers and physicians: application of a typology

This article builds on prior analyses of data collected from a qualitative study of 50 pairs of social worker-physician collaborators in. This article presents the elements of a typology of collaborators from both professions developed from those analyses. The typology was also applied to the entire sample and each respondent characterized according to type (traditional, transitional or transformational). Further analysis was done to evaluate the relationships between type and collaborative perspectives. The sample was primarily transitional (56%-58%) and there were more traditional social workers (22%) and transformational doctors (24%) than anticipated. Social workers, as a group, were much less satisfied with the doctors than the doctors were with them although both groups of traditional respondents were the most dissatisfied. Both groups were least transformational in relation to control over decision making.

Ethical dilemmas in general hospitals: social workers' contribution to ethical decision-making

Thirty-two hospital social workers, fourteen of them directors of social work services and eighteen direct practitioners, were interviewed about their perception of the factors influencing social workers' contribution to the resolution of ethical dilemmas in general hospitals in Israel. Findings revealed that while ethical decision-making in hospitals is an interdisciplinary process, social workers' contribution to the process is affected by rivalry between social workers and other members of the health team, personality differences, type of ward and the nature of the ethical dilemma. Participants of the study had quite a clear perception of their role and of the unique knowledge-base social work can offer, including knowledge of the individual and family life course, understanding and skills in coping with diseases, and systems thinking. In order to increase their influence in ethical decision-making, the hospital social workers felt they must put more effort into developing their relationships with the other professionals involved in ethical decision-making both by making themselves more indispensable and by making their contribution explicit through greater documentation of their activities. The findings also implied that in order to gain more power and be accepted as equal partners in multidisciplinary teams, hospital social workers should improve their communication skills when interacting with representatives of other heath care professions.

Collaboration between social workers and physicians: perspectives on a shared case

As health care is being restructured, health care institutions are recognizing that interdisciplinary collaboration is an essential element of both effective patient care and organizational survival. This paper analyzes self-reported views of actual collaborative activities between 50 pairs of social workers and physicians on a specific shared case in an acute care hospital setting. Through examining the degree of congruence in perspectives of each pair of collaborators, we compare the two professions' views of the collaborative process and outcome. Additionally, each profession's outlook on its own and the other profession's roles and responsibilities in the case is examined. Our findings indicate that many social work and physician collaborators share similar perspectives about many aspects of their joint patient care endeavors. Where there was disagreement within a pair, almost always, it was a social worker selecting or discussing a variable when her physician counterpart did not. Physicians were less likely than their social work counterparts to identify patient/family problems related to adjustment to illness and problems connected to hospital and community resources as well. Social workers were much less satisfied with the collaboration, saw many more things that they or their collaborator could have done differently and even perceived more disagreement about the approach to the case than did their physician collaborators. It is important to understand, empirically, the dynamics of successful collaboration and to assist social workers in becoming influential and effective collaborators with other health professionals.

Rural hospital social work: views of physicians and social workers

The existence of rural hospitals is financially tenuous due to the Prospective Payment system, which differentially reimburses rural facilities at lower rates than urban facilities. Physicians and hospital social workers provide services within these severely cost-conscious organizations to patients from communities, which are also aftercare resource poor. Given these multiple constraints, rural physicians' expectations of hospital social workers is integral to effective collaboration and social service provision. However, no prior investigation of these rural professionals exists. This research investigated the expectations of rural physicians and social workers regarding social work in the acute care rural hospital. The findings identify areas of disagreement and have implications for professional collaboration and education for rural hospital practice.

Nurses' perceptions of their role and role conflicts

Nurses' perceptions of their professional role and their experience of role conflict were explored in a sample of certified general rehabilitation nurses. Nonnurse healthcare professionals who are on the same teams as the participating nurses also were assessed for their expectations of the nurse's role. The level of locus of control was identified among the various professions. The major finding of the study was that the rehabilitation nurses shared a consistent view of their professional role and of how they believed other professionals saw this role. The results showed that the nonnurse professionals were to some extent unaware of the expectations that the nurses held for the nursing role. There was no appreciable difference in the level of locus of control among team members, a situation which may have a leveling effect on the team dynamics. These findings have implications for professional role clarity, the promotion of locus of control, and interdisciplinary team dynamics.

A profile of Canadian hospital-based palliative care

This article describes the characteristics of hospice-based palliative care programs in Canada, based on a sampling of respondents, teams, programs, and hospitals. This report is an outgrowth of a study of social services in Canadian, hospital-based palliative care programs. One hundred eighty-five hospitals were polled between December 1987 and March 1988, using a mailed-out questionnaire. One hundred sixty programs replied, a response rate of 86.5 percent.