University of Georgia School of Social Work, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Department of Family and Preventative Medicine, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
J Interprof Care. 2024 Nov-Dec;38(6):1016-1025. doi: 10.1080/13561820.2024.2403015. Epub 2024 Oct 1.
Social workers frequent interprofessional healthcare teams, but few studies examine the day-to-day experiences of these providers on interprofessional teams. Our study utilized semi-structured interviews with 54 medical social workers practicing on interprofessional healthcare teams. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the day-to-day functions of these social workers. The analysis resulted in three primary themes: 1) Social Workers' Self-Perceptions of their Roles within Interprofessional Teams, 2) Social Workers Shifting Roles on Interprofessional Teams, and 3) Interprofessional Team Dynamics that Impact the Role of a Social Worker. Social workers perceived their primary roles as contributing a unique systems approach to interprofessional healthcare teams while emphasizing patient self-determination. These self-perceptions influenced their shifting roles on interprofessional healthcare teams (e.g. clinician, case manager, bridge builder). In addition to individual self-perceptions, the healthcare system infrastructure influenced social work roles. For example, social workers in outpatient settings more frequently assumed the role of a mental health practitioner compared to those in inpatient settings. Last, there was variation in interprofessional communication and workflow assignment based on the healthcare infrastructure. Future research should examine the education and training efforts of social workers and other allied health professions for interprofessional healthcare teams.
社会工作者经常参与跨专业医疗团队，但很少有研究考察这些提供者在跨专业团队中的日常经验。我们的研究使用半结构化访谈，对 54 名在跨专业医疗团队中工作的医务社工进行了访谈。采用主题分析方法对这些社工的日常职能进行了分析。分析产生了三个主要主题：1）社会工作者对其在跨专业团队中的角色的自我认知；2）社会工作者在跨专业团队中的角色转变；3）影响社工角色的跨专业团队动态。社会工作者认为他们的主要角色是为跨专业的医疗团队提供独特的系统方法，同时强调患者的自我决定。这些自我认知影响了他们在跨专业医疗团队中的角色转变（例如临床医生、个案经理、桥梁建设者）。除了个人自我认知外，医疗体系结构也影响了社工的角色。例如，与住院环境相比，门诊环境中的社工更频繁地承担心理健康从业者的角色。最后，根据医疗体系结构的不同，跨专业的沟通和工作流程分配也存在差异。未来的研究应该考察社会工作者和其他相关健康专业人员在跨专业医疗团队中的教育和培训工作。
