Doctor asking me to discuss med changes with conservators
For context, I am an LMSW, and new to hospital social work - about 9 months in, I’ve done work in community mental health and shelter therapy before this position.
So I have a doctor at my hospital who hates speaking to conservators, family, or any supports. We’ve been able to work around that so far, and she’ll make the occasional call here and there if she’s pressured.
Today, she asked social workers to ask if she can do med changes for patients when we do the initial calls with conservators. In light of what’s happening in the Lindsay Clancy trial right now, alarm bells went off for me.
I told my team lead I would not be asking conservators if the provider can make med changes unless they give me names and dosages of the medication, and what they plan on doing with it (adding, taking away, increasing/decreasing, etc.). That just feels like making myself liable if anything were to come under legal scrutiny.
So as someone who is new to hospital social work, I’m wondering - is this a standard request from doctors? Should I remain adamant that I will not be asking conservators general requests like that, and should I even agree to asking about med changes even with the details? Even by doing that, I wouldn’t know how to answer any potential questions about side effects, so I wouldn’t be able to provide informed consent.
My hospital is also new, about 5 years old, and we just had a change in leadership for social work to someone internal, so there’s no one from other hospitals with insight that can put the kaibosh on this. I am more than happy to advocate my position, but I want to be confident I’m defending the standard of care.