The document outlines discussions and assignments related to hospital social work, emphasizing the importance of medical social workers and their roles, such as patient advocacy and intelligent discharge planning. It also provides references to scholarly articles and resources that students are encouraged to use for assignments and responses. Two specific student discussions highlight the roles of social workers in addressing medication adherence and healthcare navigation, focusing on the intersection of social work and patient care.

1. SOCW 04 wk 2 discussion 1 response to students
Learning Resources to be used as references to support your
answer.
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please
click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the
Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2012). Discharge
planning. Retrieved from http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-
Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-
MLN/MLNProducts/Downloads/Discharge-Planning-Booklet-
ICN908184.pdf
Discharge-Planning-Booklet-ICN908184.pdf
Beder, J. (2006). Hospital social work: The interface of
medicine and caring. New York, NY: Routledge.
· Chapter 2, “General Medical Social Work” (pp. 9–20)
Craig, S. L., & Muskat, B. (2013). Bouncers, brokers, and glue:
The self-described roles of social workers in urban hospitals.
Health Social Work, 38(1), 7–16.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.
Gehlert, S., & Browne, T. (Eds). (2012). Handbook of health
social work (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
· Chapter 2, “Social Work Roles and Health-Care Settings” (pp.
20–40)
Judd, R. G., & Sheffield, S. (2010). Hospital social work:
Contemporary roles and professional activities. Social Work in
Health Care, 49(9), 856–871.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.
Fox, M. T., Persaud, M., Maimets, I., Brooks, D., O‘Brien, K.,
& Tregunno, D. (2013). Effectiveness of early discharge
planning in acutely ill or injured hospitalized older adults: A
systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Geriatrics, 13, 70.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

2. Marshall, J. W., Ruth, B. J., Sisco, S., Bethke, C., Piper, T. M.,
Cohen, M., & Bachman, S. (2011). Social work interest in
prevention: A content analysis of the professional literature.
Social Work, 56(3), 201–211.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.
Work #1 wanda kinchen (Title of work #1) Answer in APA
format with 2 citations per paragraph treat each answer as a
separate work or file and each work or file need separate
references. Support your posts with specific references to the
Learning Resources given in this work. Be sure to provide full
APA citations for your references. Treat each work or answer as
a separate work and each work needs separate references.
Respond to at least two different colleagues’ postings in the
following ways:
· Provide a constructive critique of your colleague’s post about
the three specific roles.
· Suggest different perspectives of the interventions your
colleagues described for the three specific issues.
· Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be
sure to provide full APA citations for your references.
Work #1 wanda kinchen
Wanda Main Post
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The three primary roles of medical social workers that I find
rewarding are Janitor (cleaning up the mess of others), Glue
(adhesive that hold things together) and Challenger (advocating
for social change and the well-being of the client. We get a
better perceptive on our client’s internal and external struggles
when we advocate for needed services, policy revision, and
social change. The three issues I would discuss are
nonadherence to medication in Hypothyroidism, medication
adherence among low income patients, and religion disparities.

3. Sadly, giving the patient with instruction about medicine is not
enough. In a randomized controlled trial of thyroxine
adherence, circulating booklets about thyroxine prescription did
not enhance adherence between the investigation gathering and
the control gathering. The specialist tolerant relationship
assumes a key part in adherence to drug regimens. Doctors who
uses justifiable dialect and support open specialist persistent
trades in amicable, mindful conditions will encourage
cooperation by patients in their own therapeutic care. Making
basic inquiries with respect to any challenges in taking solution
and the nearness of reactions while tending to neglect in a
nonjudgmental way that will improve the patient-medical social
worker relationship (Kandukuri, Khan, & Soltys, 2010).
Mishra, Gioia, Childress, Barnet, & Webster (2011) states that
one of every four U.S. natives lives with at least two perpetual
conditions, and by age 65 the commonness ascends to 70
percent. Result from a populace based investigation of solution
adherence discovers one out of five low-income patients did not
fill all their medicines due to cost. An absence of trust between
low-income patients and their doctor will swear off drug
adherence because of cost pressure. By advocating for the
reduction in prescription cost is an effective way to improve
medication adherence among low-income patients.
Lastly, American Muslims uses their Islamic conviction as a
manual to unravel on if, when, and how to seek medical
treatment. By concentrate on the social foundation (religious
convictions) will aid me on understanding how this convention
shapes its disciples' wellbeing related practices and wellbeing
(Padela, and Curlin, 2013).
References:
Kandukuri, R. C., Khan, M. A., & Soltys, S. M. (2010).
Nonadherence to Medication in Hypothyroidism: A Case
Report. Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry, 12(3), PCC.09m00863.
http://doi.org/10.4088/PCC.09m00863gre
Mishra, S. I., Gioia, D., Childress, S., Barnet, B., & Webster, R.

4. L. (2011). Adherence to Medication Regimens among Low-
Income Patients with Multiple Comorbid Chronic Conditions.
Health & Social Work, 36(4), 249–258.
Padilla, A. I., & Curling, F. A. (2013). Religion and
disparities: Considering the influences of Islam on the health of
American Muslims. Journal of Religion and Health, 52(4),
1333-45. doi:
http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1007/s10943-012-
9620-y
Work #2 Cara Colantuono (Title of work #2) Answer in APA
format with 2 citations per paragraph treat each answer as a
separate work or file and each work or file need separate
references. Support your posts with specific references to the
Learning Resources given in this work. Be sure to provide full
APA citations for your references. Treat each work or answer as
a separate work and each work needs separate references.
Respond to at least two different colleagues’ postings in the
following ways:
· Provide a constructive critique of your colleague’s post about
the three specific roles.
· Suggest different perspectives of the interventions your
colleagues described for the three specific issues.
Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be
sure to provide full APA citations for your references
Cara Colantuono
RE: Discussion 1 - Week 2
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Main Post:
As defined by both Gehlert & Browne (2012) and Craig &
Muskat (2013) articles, hospital social work consists of many

5. different roles, all of which are essential to the patient’s care.
The top three functions that I find the most inspirational and
rewarding would be patient advocacy and healthcare navigation,
socially intelligent discharge planning, and representation
among interdisciplinary administrative working groups.
Patient advocacy and navigation of the healthcare system is a
broad topic and covers a variety of interventions performed by
social workers to combat issues discovered through assessment
of the patient’s biopsychosocial situation. Advocacy is often
recognized through patient safety efforts, financial obligation,
and treatment management (Judd & Sheffield, 2010). For
patients with behavioral health issues, I find that social work
plays a pivotal role in treatment management including
recommendations for post-acute care and how the hospital will
manage their care including behaviors.
Advocacy has been a recognized role in hospital social work
since its start in the 1900’s and remains an ethically guided
situational surprise on a case by case basis (Judd & Sheffield,
2010). Social works flexibility and superior problem-solving
skills have made social workers champions at patient safety and
resource advocates. Navigating the healthcare system in regards
to insurance issues including, authorizations, appeals,
underinsured, uninsured, and copayments/deductibles is another
very critical part of advocacy when working with patients.
Intelligent discharge planning has become one of the primary
roles of hospital social workers today, often taking president
over anything else (Gehlert & Browne, 2012). Due to the
integration of DRG’s and LOS initiatives, discharging planning
is on everyone’s mind. Being able to assess a patient’s medical
condition, social, and emotional health allows hospital social
workers to anticipate the need. Based on experience, social
workers can make a recommendation to families to help them
create a most efficient and safe discharge plan within the limits
of doctor’s orders and insurance guidelines.
Finally, representing social work as an engaged member of
multidisciplinary groups is one of the most rewarding features

6. of my job. Advocating for the excellent work that social work
does and not allowing any other professionals to forget the roles
that social workers perform is crucial to the survival of the
profession. From a system level to the units, being at the table
to advocate for the patients and make suggestions for project
improvement initiatives is inspiring.
Some interventions that may come as a result of these three
health social work roles are insurance authorizations and
referral to post-acute care facilities. Sadly, in PA, nursing
facilities can discriminate against anyone for any reason for
admission to their facility. Due to this fact, social workers need
to be savvy about how they present patients to the facilities;
also, they also need to be prepared to bring a robust medical
necessity case to the insurance companies to secure payment for
said services. This requires the healthcare social worker to be
able to professional read medical charts and communicate
medical terminology to the insurance representative who is
often and registered nurse by trade.
Another intervention might be to piolet new patient safety
measures or encourage process improvements to reduce the
length of stay and readmissions (Judd & Sheffield, 2010). These
two areas are a top priority for hospital administrators and
social works ability to show engagement, and even liability in
cost savings initiatives is essential. For example, I am currently
involved in a discharge planning re-design committee explicitly
looking at reducing waste and creating a well-documented
process to streamline discharge planning across the
interdisciplinary teams.
References
Beder, J. (2006). Hospital social work: The interface of
medicine and caring. New York, NY: Routledge. Chapter 2,
“General Medical Social Work” (pp. 9–20)
Craig, S. L., & Muskat, B. (2013). Bouncers, brokers, and glue:
The self-described roles of social workers in urban hospitals.
Health Social Work, 38(1), 7–16.

7. Gehlert, S., & Browne, T. (Eds). (2012). Handbook of health
social work (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Chapter 2, “Social
Work Roles and Health-Care Settings” (pp. 20–40)
Judd, R. G., & Sheffield, S. (2010). Hospital social work:
Contemporary roles and professional activities. Social Work in
Health Care, 49(9), 856–871.
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