Social work in health care
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Ethical decision making is critically important in hospice social work. Through in-depth interviews, researchers explored ethical dilemmas faced by 14 hospice social workers and the processes they used to move toward resolution. ⋯ Findings suggest that hospice teams should be provided with opportunities to meaningfully discuss ethical decision making. Further, the involvement of social workers in administrative leadership is recommended to increase the likelihood that discipline-specific perspectives are incorporated into formal policies and procedures that shape practice in ethically complex situations.
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Soc Work Health Care · Oct 2014
ReviewSocial work, technology, and ethical practices: a review and evaluation of the national association of social workers' technology standards.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming essential to social work practice by providing increased treatment possibilities and reducing barriers to service. While recognizing the importance of ICTs in practice, social work practitioners have had concerns about ethical use. ⋯ While the guidelines set the groundwork, they were not embedded in a process that would allow them to adapt to the swift pace of ICT changes. This article reviews the current Standards, evaluates how these have been implemented by practitioners, and offers suggestions for updates.
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Soc Work Health Care · Oct 2014
Social media and social work education: understanding and dealing with the new digital world.
Accompanying the multiple benefits and innovations of social media are the complex ethical and pedagogical issues that challenge social work educators. Without a clear understanding of the blurred boundaries between public and private, the potentially limitless and unintended audiences, as well as the permanency of the information shared online, social work students who use social media can find themselves in difficult situations in their personal and professional lives. In this article, we present three scenarios that illustrate issues and complexities involving social media use by social work students, followed by a discussion and recommendations for social work educators.
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Soc Work Health Care · Oct 2014
Clinical social work practice and technology: personal, practical, regulatory, and ethical considerations for the twenty-first century.
The world that social work exists in is no longer defined by traditional physical settings and boundaries, such as schools, agencies, or even offices. With the advent of the Internet and digital communications, social work now exists in a far more complex reality, with clients and social workers engaging across multiple platforms, and sometimes even unintentionally and without one another's awareness. The implications of this can be ethical, practical, regulatory, and personal. This article explores these areas of concern and suggests strategies professionals can use to navigate these complex issues related to technology and clinical practice.