Hospital restructuring: positioning social work to manage change

In the shifts to programmatic hospital organizations, social workers are having to learn to reframe their work, reorganize their thinking, and restructure their professional disciplines in order to survive. The experience is frequently one of frustration, anger, and impotence. Yet, social workers are masters of systems thinking in hospitals, and are well positioned to effect change. The beauty of shifting to a flattened hierarchy that is patient focused, is that it endorses change consistent with the social work mission in health. The challenge for social work is to grapple with the big issues: our belief in ourselves; defining our roles and functions and priorities; defining our vision in programmatic hospital organizations; being critical of what we do; and articulating what we have to offer. This paper identifies ways social workers can position themselves to effect positive change in hospitals undergoing restructuring.