SW 478 Social Work Practice in Healthcare
This 3- credit course focuses on developing advanced social work practice knowledge, skills, and core competencies with a focus on health care delivery. Course content emphasizes critical thinking, group discussion, demonstration, and integrative practice learning to increase students’ conceptual and practice skills to be well-trained practitioners in diverse health/health care settings. Students will hone skills in psychosocial assessment and treatment integrated with the aspects of the medical and physical functioning of the person-situation configuration. Coping tasks of individuals and family members are viewed with cultural humility, from a perspective of growth based upon psychosocial capacities, pre-illness coping patterns, phases of the illness process, and health beliefs and prognosis for physical functioning and life. Structural factors contributing to health disparities, access to and utilization of health care services are prioritized. Given the dynamic nature of health care, the course addresses both the opportunities and challenges posed by emerging public health crises and other developments, and the flexible adaptation of skills needed to respond to this changing environment including work carried out in the fast-paced context of crisis and time constraints.
The course covers specific content areas including health equity and the social determinants of health (SDOH); unique social work roles in health care practice in the context of policy, technology, organization and health behavior theory; use of evidence-based assessment tools, treatment, and clinical intervention models within a variety of health settings; interdisciplinary team collaboration; working across the life span; grief and loss dynamics; discharge planning, case management, and managed care; and legal and ethical issues.
Prerequisite
SW-421A or Advanced Standing