Risk of Injury Events in Patients With Visual Impairments: A Swedish Survey Study Among Hospital Social Workers

Introduction: People with visual impairments (those who are blind or have low vision) are exposed to risks in everyday life, especially injury risks. This study aimed to examine experiences and practical knowledge among hospital social workers in Sweden concerning meetings with patients with visual impairments who have been affected by injury events in residential environments. Methods: Swedish hospital social workers specializing in patients with visual impairments ( n=30) answered a questionnaire comprising 14 questions. Both fixed and open-ended questions were included, allowing an analysis of both comparable numeric data and subjectively perceived experiences and opinions. Results: A majority of the respondents had met patients who had been injured in the residential setting; the most common injury mechanism reported was tripping or falling on the stairs, or accidentally stumbling into furniture. The hospital social workers acknowledged that they could work more preventively in their professional role by encouraging patients to use orientation and mobility devices such as long canes, increasing collaboration with other professions, and conducting home visits to enable trustful dialogues with both patients and relatives. Discussion: According to these specialized hospital social workers, the provision of education and information to patients with visual impairments could potentially prevent future injury. However, in order to achieve this, there is a need to first enable a trustful dialogue between social workers and patients. Implications for practitioners: This study provides a better understanding of the importance of trustful dialogue between hospital social workers and patients with visual impairments, from the point of view injury prevention. It also offers a summary of the knowledge of hospital social workers about risks and injury events in residential settings for patients with visual impairments.

Hospital social work and discharge planning for older people: challenges of working in a clinical setting

Across the world acute hospitals are under unprecedented pressures due to shrinking budgets and increasing demand, against this backdrop they are also experiencing record levels of activity in Accident & Emergency and delayed transfers of care. Reducing pressure on hospitals by avoiding unnecessary admissions and delayed discharges has risen up the global policy agenda. However, reviews of strategies and policies have rarely involved discussions about the role that hospital social workers play in achieving timely hospital discharge. Yet discharge planning has become a, if not the, central function of these professionals. This paper presents the results of a small-scale exploratory study of hospital social work in an acute hospital in Northern Ireland. The findings reveal that the work of hospital social workers is characterised by increased bureaucracy, an emphasis on targets and a decrease in the time afforded to forming relationships with older people. Hospital social workers highlight concerns that the emphasis on discharge planning and pressures associated with the austerity agenda limits their capacity to provide other more traditional roles such as advocacy and counselling. It is argued that hospital social work should not be narrowly defined as ‘simply’ co-ordinating discharge plans. The tension that arises between expediting hospital discharge and advocating for older people and their families is also discussed.

Doing Harm

Under the guise of “protecting the unborn,” anti-abortion and related measures such as feticide laws are being used as the basis for arresting pregnant women and new mothers. It is often the case that the initial disclosure of information that led to the involvement of criminal law, child welfare, or other state authorities has been made by healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, and hospital social workers. Pregnant patients—like other patients—should expect that their medical health is a private matter and that healthcare provider–patient confidentiality will be respected. Such disclosures have legal, social, and public health consequences and frequently lead to interventions that are punitive and counterproductive, not protective. This chapter describes the ethical obligations of healthcare professionals, including their duty to advocate for the protection of confidential information and to work to change unjust practices, policies, and laws.

Does workplace spirituality enhance motivation of hospitals social workers? The scrutiny in Iran

Background: In today’s world as the globe of organizations, employees tend to show endeavor and more involvement in organizational goals and mission by creating workplace spirituality. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the role of workplace spirituality in improving hospital social worker’s motivation. Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional design and was conducted in 19 private and governmental hospitals in Karaj city, Alborz province, north Iran in 2019. The statistical population included all 302 hospital social workers who were selected as the sample population according to Cochran’s formula. Using two standard questionnaires of workplace spirituality and employee motivation, we assessed the role of workplace spirituality in improving the hospital’ social workers’ motivation. Results: According to research findings, there were significant relationships between workplace spirituality, meaningful working, sense of community, forgiveness, and honesty with hospital social workers motivation p ⩽ .05. There was a significant difference between age group, gender, level of education and workplace spirituality, and motivation of hospital social workers p ⩽ .05. Conclusion: Findings suggest that health planners and authorities may need to examine factors that contribute to the promotion of workplace spirituality to increase the motivation of hospital social workers for improved performance of health organizations.

Assessing How a Transplant Hospitality House for Patients and Families Can Promote Wellbeing

Patients and caregivers face increasingly complex and unique challenges when they travel to distant hospitals for transplant care. They can find themselves in a strange city managing hospital stays and outpatient appointments, requiring lodging, food, transportation, financial assistance, and emotional support. Those unable to overcome these logistical challenges may lose access to lifesaving treatment. Transplant specific hospitality houses have emerged to support patients who travel long distances from home to seek care, though little is known about the impact of such programs. Can a transplant hospitality house impact opportunities for family-centered care, perceptions of physiological and physical security, and perceptions of belonging and esteem? Can their contributions also be linked to perceived positive health outcomes and what aspects of a transplant hospitality house are most significant for a patient’s and caregiver’s health journey? One transplant hospitality house investigated these questions with 71 participating in focus groups or key stakeholder interviews: transplant patients and caregivers, transplant hospital social workers, volunteers, financial contributors, board members, and staff. The findings suggest that while patients and caregivers were dependent and deeply grateful for the lodging and amenities that met their basic needs, it was the contact and support from other patients and caregivers at the transplant hospitality house that had the most profound positive impact on patient and family attitudes, outlooks, and perceived well-being.

Hospital social workers and their understanding of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma

Compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma can be a consequence of social work practice in all contexts, including the fast-paced, crisis driven hospital environment. Four metropolitan hospitals collaborated with an academic partner to explore the understanding and awareness that hospital-based social workers have in this area, and to investigate both individual and organisational responsibility. The research utilised a Participatory Action Research methodology with Stage One being a collaboratively developed survey. The results of the survey showed that social workers’ understanding is impacted by their knowledge of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma, the nature of everyday hospital practice, and the identification, provision of, and engagement in personal self-care and workplace support strategies. The findings highlighted the dual responsibility that employing hospitals and individuals have to care for themselves and each other, including the capacity for social workers to use supervision and collegial relationships to support their coping and resilience.

Perinatal social work during the Covid-19 pandemic: Reflecting on concepts of time and liminality

This article reflects upon the experiences of two perinatal, hospital social workers during the unprecedented time of the Covid-19 in Ireland, as discussed with their academic colleague. This encounter revealed the complexity of service delivery that emerged, when managing the needs of vulnerable clients whilst being mindful of personal safety. One of the social workers was pregnant so was conscious of possible risks to her unborn child, as well as her young family at home. The second social worker, her line manager, discusses the dilemmas associated with the management of risk when allocating staff to contexts where they would be in direct contact with Covid-19. At the core of the analysis of these situations is the notion of liminal space and the realisation that time appears to have a new meaning; what we once knew as normal no longer exists, but we have yet to reach the ‘new normal’.