r/hospitalsocialwork

I run a small clinic, and I've noticed a lot of my patients leave appointments confused or forgetting what we discussed, especially when it comes to managing chronic conditions or understanding new diagnoses. I want to develop patient education materials that break down medical information into plain language, but I'm not sure how to balance simplicity with accuracy. I also serve a diverse patient population with different reading levels, languages, and cultural backgrounds, so I need these materials to be accessible to everyone. Ideally, I'd like a mix of formats, like handouts, visuals, and maybe short videos, that patients can actually reference at home.

hello, i have been applying for some hospital jobs lately, and i got called for an interview at one of them. its a large hospital, trauma 1. i reviewed the application i sent after scheduling the interview and realized its for night shift at the ED (lol). i thought about it and i think im open to it, but im curious how other's experiences have gone!

ive been working at a 125 bed SNF for 2 years, and i find the job very easy. ive worked with higher acuity discharges, and homeless individuals, but i usually have 20 days to figure out a discharge plan, so i know that would be very different in the hospital. i know how to send referrals to inpatient psych, but im sending them in the day at the SNF, when things are more open/beds are more available. im very familiar with HH/DME etc, i even handle ordering concentrators/cpap/bipap, wound vacs and IV infusion when needed. however, i know most if not all of these agencies are closed at night, so thats all pretty moot i guess.

what sort of questions should i be asking in the interview to gauge if the job is good for me? what does the average night in the ED look like at a large hospital? what questions should i be anticipating? i havent interviewed in a long time, so im a little nervous.

I recently had an interview at a hospital and they said they don’t provide clinical hours towards gaining your LCSW. But part of me thinks they just aren’t understanding the question and are saying they don’t provide supervision towards LCSW. Which would be fine because my MSW internship supervisor said she can provide supervision to me. I’m not sure how to clarify with the hospital because every time I ask they say no we don’t have anyone to provide supervision (which is fine) but I’m not getting a clear answer if part of my 40 hours a week can count towards my 3,000 hours towards my LCSW.

Just wanted to ask if this is true that not all hospital medical social worker positions you can count hours towards your LCSW?

At least in my state the job title doesn’t matter, it depends on the job description if hours can be counted and from my understanding the role is the same as my internship. Which was at a different hospital and they were able to count 30 of their 40 hours towards the 3,000 hours for LCSW.

Also upset because if the job title says MSW but they’re going to say you can’t count hours towards a LCSW?? Make it make sense!!

Please ignore any typos

Hello, everyone!

I’m trying to break into hospital SW and have a question about weekend roles. I’m all for applying to the positions that are 3x12s on the weekend, my only concern is not having support from departments that would generally only be open on weekdays. I guess my biggest fear is needing something and not having another SW to rely since I’d be new.

If I’m over thinking this, please let me know. Also, if there are roles outside of the hospital setting that could lead to me working in a hospital in the future, I’m all ears.

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I’ve been talking with providers about how family caregivers are integrated into patient care, and I’d love to hear your perspective.

In 2024, Medicare started covering family caregiver training that’s tied directly to a patient’s treatment plan. So instead of a general caregiver resource, an example could be a physical therapist giving a 30 min training to a caregiver on how to safely assist with transfers as part of that patient’s treatment plan. I’m trying to better understand how you see family caregivers supporting discharge plans today, and whether this patient-specific training could play a meaningful role here.

I know caregiver involvement can vary a lot across patients (and sometimes even identifying the caregiver can be difficult), so I was hoping to get your thoughts on a few questions:

• When you’re discharging a patient with a family caregiver, what does your interaction with the caregiver typically look like?
• After patients go home, do caregivers commonly reach back out to your team? If so, what are the most common reasons?
• Looking back, are there situations where better caregiver preparation before discharge might have changed what happened after the patient went home?

Any thoughts would be really appreciated.

Just curious if any of us have a swanky office :) I ask from my shoebox office I’m lucky to have

"patient states that she has a cat at home that she is concerned about, she lives alone. Can you speak with her"

Everyday feels like July 1

Im graduating with my BSW in spring 27 and will be doing advanced standing msw the following semester. I would really like to work in the hospital but I’ve never had a clear understanding of how to get there due to their internal requirements and LCSW requirements and such. Does anyone have kind of a roadmap? For example: When getting my MSW can I gain clinical hours then? Or is it I graduate with the MSW take whatever job I can while figuring out where I can gain hours and then start studying for the LCSW exam? I am just looking for a general a,b,c.

At my hospital, social work in all departments have a Clinician as their title, and self-refer and remind non-SW staff that they should be address as Clinicians.

Did I miss something — is there a pervasive stigma or unclarity with the term “social worker?”

EDIT * Thank you for the explanations. It's a testament to interprofessional misconceptions (or just my ignorance) that I didn't realize there was a difference between case manager vs clinician (i.g. LSW vs LCSW vs, LMHC).

Who do I contact to help a homeless patient begin to start getting copies of their birth cert and ID? Patient is currently in an adjacent state. All of their docs have been stolen and they will need someone to help walk with them through the process, or at least get them started.

Alternatively, does anyone know how to replace a stolen Soc Sec benefits debit card? Can that be done without ID? Patient can't access their income because the debit card was also stolen.

Just accepted a position at a community hospital as a social worker. I am excited and this would be my first time in a social work role even though I’ve had other types of similar work in mental health agencies and school settings. I’m really excited to learn.

Anything I should look out for? Any take aways from your experiences? Any advice?