Professional Accountability in Social Care and Health


Book Description

Many social workers, health care staff and teachers maintain high standards of professionalism, often in stressful and challenging circumstances. However, research also reveals instances where individual practitioners and managers, or whole organisations, fail to act lawfully, ethically and/or carefully. This book addresses just those instances by providing guidance on how to maintain accountable professionalism in tricky "what if?" situations. Dilemmas are explored using case studies and the mosaic of legal rules and regulatory body requirements for accountable professionalism are also laid out. The book will appeal to students and newly qualified practitioners in teaching, health and social work and their managers.




Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care


Book Description

Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health was released in September 2019, before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020. Improving social conditions remains critical to improving health outcomes, and integrating social care into health care delivery is more relevant than ever in the context of the pandemic and increased strains placed on the U.S. health care system. The report and its related products ultimately aim to help improve health and health equity, during COVID-19 and beyond. The consistent and compelling evidence on how social determinants shape health has led to a growing recognition throughout the health care sector that improving health and health equity is likely to depend â€" at least in part â€" on mitigating adverse social determinants. This recognition has been bolstered by a shift in the health care sector towards value-based payment, which incentivizes improved health outcomes for persons and populations rather than service delivery alone. The combined result of these changes has been a growing emphasis on health care systems addressing patients' social risk factors and social needs with the aim of improving health outcomes. This may involve health care systems linking individual patients with government and community social services, but important questions need to be answered about when and how health care systems should integrate social care into their practices and what kinds of infrastructure are required to facilitate such activities. Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health examines the potential for integrating services addressing social needs and the social determinants of health into the delivery of health care to achieve better health outcomes. This report assesses approaches to social care integration currently being taken by health care providers and systems, and new or emerging approaches and opportunities; current roles in such integration by different disciplines and organizations, and new or emerging roles and types of providers; and current and emerging efforts to design health care systems to improve the nation's health and reduce health inequities.




Understanding Medical Professionalism


Book Description

A groundbreaking text on how to deliver the highest quality patient care through professionalism in daily medical practice Five Star Doody’s Review: “This is an outstanding book for all clinicians and professors, indeed for everyone in medicine to help mentor and self-police the medical profession.” "Understanding Medical Professionalism is a 'must-have' for all involved in the healing arts. The book demystifies professionalism, bringing it from a philosophical, mystical concept to a practical everyday set of behaviors. The twelve chapters, in a uniform way, provide wonderful, real-life stories that illustrate the challenges faced by practitioners, describe ways to deal with those challenges, and help develop the personal and institutional skills necessary to provide excellent and compassionate care." -- Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS, FRCSI (Hon.), The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Washington "Insightful, practical, and authoritative. Building on their own research and that of others, Levinson et al. offer a comprehensive discussion of medical professionalism from the refreshing perspective of behavioral skills and an enabling healthcare system. Understanding Medical Professionalism has fundamentally reframed the professionalism debate and will likely remain the definitive work in this field for quite some time." -- David G. Nichols, MD, President and CEO, The American Board of Pediatrics "The authors' ambitious goal of providing a framework for the continuum of physician development of professional behaviors, from student through expert senior clinician, has been met. Students will find the text modular and instructive; residents will benefit from the reinforcement of positive professional behaviors and explication of strategies to excel in this competency; educational program directors will find the framework and tools for assessment and strategies for remediation enriching; and the expert professional will find subtle opportunities to grow to mastership of this most important physician competency." -- Thomas J. Nasca, MD, MACP, Chief Executive Officer, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Professor of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College "The authors offer a framework and an approach to medical professionalism that enable us to understand it, teach it, and incorporate it into our day-to-day lives as health professionals. It is a much needed addition to our armamentarium as we work to align the education of health professionals with the needs and expectations of the society we serve." -- George E. Thibault, MD, President, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation




Key Concepts in Social Work Practice


Book Description

This book is a quick and accessible reference guide to the key concepts that social work students and professionals need to understand to be effective. The authors place practice at the centre of the text, and include a host of case examples to bring the concepts to life. Examining the essential topics of the social work curriculum, the concepts covered relate to practice, theory, policy and personal challenges. Further reading is included in each entry, so that the reader can explore what they have learned in more detail. This book will be an invaluable resource for social work students during their studies and on their practice placement. It will also be useful for qualified social workers, who want to continue their professional education.




Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements


Book Description

Pamphlet is a succinct statement of the ethical obligations and duties of individuals who enter the nursing profession, the profession's nonnegotiable ethical standard, and an expression of nursing's own understanding of its commitment to society. Provides a framework for nurses to use in ethical analysis and decision-making.




Improving Health in the Community


Book Description

How do communities protect and improve the health of their populations? Health care is part of the answer but so are environmental protections, social and educational services, adequate nutrition, and a host of other activities. With concern over funding constraints, making sure such activities are efficient and effective is becoming a high priority. Improving Health in the Community explains how population-based performance monitoring programs can help communities point their efforts in the right direction. Within a broad definition of community health, the committee addresses factors surrounding the implementation of performance monitoring and explores the "why" and "how to" of establishing mechanisms to monitor the performance of those who can influence community health. The book offers a policy framework, applies a multidimensional model of the determinants of health, and provides sets of prototype performance indicators for specific health issues. Improving Health in the Community presents an attainable vision of a process that can achieve community-wide health benefits.




Changing Practice in Health and Social Care


Book Description

Designed to lay sound foundations for continuing professional development in a world of rapid change, this Reader draws together key articles exploring the recent challenges facing professionals across the spectrum of health and social care. Topics examined include: accountability to service users, funders and communities; the skills needed for teamwork and collaboration; and ethical dilemmas of working in conditions of resource constraint, and engaging in questions of quality and performance review. The chapters reflect the similarities and differences between the NHS and social services. This a set book for the Open University course K302 Critical Practice in Health and Social Care.




Clinical Accountability in Homecare


Book Description

Learn six proven strategies to hold your nurses, aides, and therapists accountable while working in the field. Foster an environment of responsibility and commitment for the best level of patient care. Set expectations for staff. Homecare staff often work in the field with little direct supervision. The level of autonomy can be challenging. In this first accountability book written for home health agencies, the author reveals her successful six-step plan that she uses with her own homecare staff with measurable results. This manual provides helpful tools to set expectations for behavior and standards of practice. It's a key training resource for both new and experienced managers. Perfect for directors/administrators, clinical managers, clinical operations managers, and clinical educators.







Social Work in Health Care


Book Description

Here is an outstanding reference book of major readings in the field of social work in health care. Practitioners, educators, researchers, and students can use this landmark two-part volume to review dominant themes and critical issues in today’s practice environment and to understand the evolution of current trends and emerging policies and programs. In this one desktop source book, hundreds of references relevant to the health care social work field are immediately accessible. Education, policy, practice, and research issues integral to social work’s expanding role in health care are the main focus, with each chapter highlighting a theme of enduring importance to the field. Other outstanding articles related to the chapter’s theme are cited in the appendix to each chapter which also includes a selected bibliography of suggested topical readings. Comprehensive new book filled with information vital to social workers in the health care field! Over 900 pages of scholarly articles by the foremost social work leaders in health care! 9 categories embrace the range of social work activity in the health care field! Exciting new ideas and practical suggestions for everyday dilemmas! Hundreds of references immediately accessible in one desktop source! Selected bibliography of topical headings provides sources for even more relevant articles! A MUST HAVE volume for instructors and students! Deepen your understanding of all aspects of social work practice in health care with this superb volume! Here is an outstanding reference book of major readings in the field of social work in health care. Practitioners, educators, researchers, and students can use this landmark two-part volume to review dominant themes and critical issues in today’s practice environment and to understand the evolution of current trends and emerging policies and programs. Social Work in Health Care makes hundreds of references relevant to the health care social work field immediately accessible in this one desktop source book. Education, policy, practice, and research issues integral to social work’s expanding role in health care are the main focus, with each chapter highlighting a theme of enduring importance to the field. Other outstanding articles related to the chapter’s theme are cited in the appendix to each chapter which also includes a selected bibliography of suggested topical readings. Find answers and ideas for everyday dilemmas in this all-inclusive, information-packed volume! Social workers practicing in the rapidly expanding health care field call upon a repertoire of skills to fulfill a variety of functions including direct patient care and contact with patients’families, education, and influencing organizational policies on their clients’behalf. The in-depth scholarship and the diversity of multiple approaches to health care social work, as presented in Social Work in Health Care, will have a strong impact on the field. Through the intertwining network of education, policy, practice, and research issues in the book, and professsional discussion of those topics, a beginning point exists from which social workers can develop principles to guide their social work activities in the medical and health fields.