As you saw in this week’s Discussion, the healthcare setting often dictates the

As you saw in this week’s Discussion, the healthcare setting often dictates the role, functions, and services of a medical social worker. Therefore, scope of practice can vary greatly depending on the setting. For example, in a hospice center, it is not uncommon for medical social workers to intervene with family members and support caregivers; in other settings, practice might involve counseling on financial wellness and securing access to insurance or educating patients about diabetes or substance use.
For this Assignment, you again engage with a healthcare setting, this time examining the medical social worker’s scope of practice, responsibilities, and skills and competencies within that context.
Select one healthcare setting of interest to you. This can be the same one you identified in this week’s Discussion, or it can be different. Reflect on scope of practice, common functions and responsibilities, and necessary skills and competencies associated with the setting.
BY DAY 7
Submit a 2- to 3-page paper in which you:
Briefly state the healthcare setting you find most interesting. Explain the scope of medical social work practice, including primary responsibilities, within the setting.
Explain how you might address the needs of patients that are beyond the scope of practice of your selected setting.
Explain skills and competencies you think would be most beneficial to you as a medical social worker in this setting and with the associated patient population.
Use the Learning Resources to support your Assignment. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.
Gehlert, S., & Browne, T. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of health social work (3rd ed.). Wiley.
Chapter 2, “Social Work Roles and Healthcare Settings” (pp. 21–37)
Use the chapters in Part 3 of the book (Chapters 16–23) to explore various health care settings that may be of interest to you.
Craig, S. L., McInroy, L. B., Goulden, A., Eaton, A. D., Kourgiantakis, T., Bogo, M., Adamson, K., Iacono, G., Gagliardi, L., Krasovec, T., & Small, M. (2021). The health social work competency rating scale: Development of a tool for education and practice.Links to an external site. Social Work Education, 40(7), 928–941. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1768233
National Association of Social Workers. (2016). NASW standards for social work practice in health care settings.Links to an external site. https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=fFnsRHX-4HE%3D&portalid=0