Social work undertakes its own audit

This paper presents the findings of a Social Health Care Evaluation designed with a system of data collection that can serve as part of an ongoing audit mechanism. It can provide data necessary for the generation of profiles on patients served, on practitioners, and on the department's utilization patterns as a whole. In addition, it offers a method by which norms, criteria, and standards may be promulgated from demonstrated social work interventions. The approach is based on a social work frame of reference and is not disease specific. It focuses on assessments of social problems and outcome that can be correlated with any medical or nursing audit.