Identifying patients who need social work services: an interdisciplinary analysis

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Social Work in Healthcare
• Interprofessional Collaboration

Background:

• Patient referral for social work services is crucial for comprehensive care.
• Understanding decision-making factors among healthcare professionals is essential for optimizing patient pathways.
• Varied perspectives among disciplines can impact service accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze factors influencing referral decisions for hospital patients requiring social work services.
• To explore the perspectives of social workers, nurses, and physicians on patient social service needs.
• To identify the sources of differing views among healthcare professionals.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary approach involving social workers, nurses, and physicians.
• Individual evaluation of social service needs for a sample of intermediate care patients.
• Data collection on professional decision-making processes in patient referral.

Main Results:

• Identified key factors influencing referral decisions for social work services.
• Highlighted divergent views among physicians, nurses, and social workers regarding patient needs.
• Revealed discipline-specific considerations in the referral process.

Conclusions:

• Multidisciplinary collaboration is key to understanding referral dynamics.
• Addressing divergent professional views can improve social work service integration.
• Optimizing patient referral pathways requires interprofessional consensus.