Confronting the challenge of computerization for social workers in health care settings

Computerization and information technology will profoundly affect the work of health care social workers in the coming years. This paper reviews recent trends in information technology in health care systems and their implications for social workers. It describes recent innovations in information systems designed specifically for social workers. It concludes with a review of recent studies of utilization of computer and information systems by social workers and from these derives some of the conditions that must be created if social workers are to effectively make use of this technology.