Social work in teaching hospitals and expansion of for-profit health corporations.

The possibility of sale of a 175-year-old nonprofit hospital to a for-profit corporation raised questions and concerns about the future of teaching and training programs at the institution. With the many challenges facing social workers in both the nonprofit and for-profit hospitals, especially the pressures for early discharge planning and developing income producing services, social work teaching and learning opportunities in hospitals may be drastically curtailed. The author enjoins social workers to maintain social work's values and ethics as they continue the roles of administrator, clinician, teacher, learner, researcher, and, most important, advocate for social policy and change.