This week's post will be pretty short as I was ill and didn't attend practicum. Therefore, this post will focus on the integration question.
Integration question:
HBSE: How might your assessment of a client differ from that of another person on your team, such as a nurse, doctor, or teacher?
At Larue Carter, there are many assessments of patients; nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc. all have their roles and complete various evaluations. Psychiatrsists are primarily concerned with the medical treatment of psychiatric disorders. Therefore, several distinctions exist between psychiatric and social work assessments.
When a psychiatrist evaluates a client, he/she focuses primarily on the patient's medical health. The assessment might include an evaluation of the general physical and mental health of the client. The social work assessment, on the other hand, may also include such areas as social, emotional, and/or physical assessments. The social work evaluation aims at looking at the entire picture of a client's life while the psychiatric assessment may focus exclusively on the patients medical health.
Obviously, each psychiatrist and social worker is different and thus so will be their evaluations. Therefore, it isn't possible to say for certainty what one's evaluation will entail. However, the medical profession specializes in treating a client from the medical perspective while the social work profession utilizes a number of perspectives in order to help a client. Psychiatry is quite specialized while social work can be quite broad. Even though there are similarities between what a psychiatrist and social worker do, definite boundaries do exist in each profession.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Treatment Team Meetings
Since I have been at Larue Carter, I have attended a number of weekly treatment team meetings. The goal of the meetings are to evaluate patient progress and to update the patient's medical and psychological treatments. The meetings consist of the unit psychiatrist, unit charge nurse, unit director, unit social worker, and unit psychologist. Family members of the patients are also welcome to attend.
During my tenure at Larue Carter, we have seen a number of patients and made many changes to their treatment plans. All professionals responsible for working with the patients have equal input into what changes are made. The psychiatrist is responsible for the medical needs of the patient, the psychologist is responsible for the psychological needs of the patient, and the social worker is responsible for the social needs. Furthermore, the nurses that attend give great depth into what is happening in the daily lives of the patients. This information helps the treatment team to make the best choices for everyone involved including all patients, the staff, and family members.
From my point of view, it has been quite interesting participating in these meetings. I have seen just how dedicated the hospital staff is in the treatment of patient's and recognize the effort they put into choosing the best treatments possible for the patients.
I have enjoyed being a part of these meetings and now understand just how much time and effort goes into helping patients maintain their illnesses.
During my tenure at Larue Carter, we have seen a number of patients and made many changes to their treatment plans. All professionals responsible for working with the patients have equal input into what changes are made. The psychiatrist is responsible for the medical needs of the patient, the psychologist is responsible for the psychological needs of the patient, and the social worker is responsible for the social needs. Furthermore, the nurses that attend give great depth into what is happening in the daily lives of the patients. This information helps the treatment team to make the best choices for everyone involved including all patients, the staff, and family members.
From my point of view, it has been quite interesting participating in these meetings. I have seen just how dedicated the hospital staff is in the treatment of patient's and recognize the effort they put into choosing the best treatments possible for the patients.
I have enjoyed being a part of these meetings and now understand just how much time and effort goes into helping patients maintain their illnesses.
Psychosocial Evaluations
Psychosocial evaluations are assessments used on clients that obtain general information such as employment background, financial information, family history, medical history, etc. Larue Carter utilizes the psychosocial evaluation and it is the responsibility of the social work to complete the assessment. In my opinion, the psychosocial evaluation is a useless tool because it barely goes beyond the surface and merely is repetive in nature.
The psychosocial evaluation isn't beneficial in a number of ways. It does obtain a general background of the patient's life, but doesn't go in depth enough to give needed information. Furthermore, the psychosocial evaluation merely repeats what other assessments have already stated and seems to be an unnecessary task. The psychosocial evaluation does have a section for the social worker to write in strengths of the patient but doesn't guide the social worker in identifying strengths. Thus, the psychosocial evaluation isn't strengths focused.
I feel that there could be a better use of the social worker's time. The psychosocial evaluation asks information that has already been obtained by other professionals, and therefore is pointless. Moreover, I feel that a strengths assessment would be more beneficial to the patient's treatment and recovery. I feel as though the social worker has a lot more to offer in the ways of strengths assessing.
The psychosocial evaluation isn't beneficial in a number of ways. It does obtain a general background of the patient's life, but doesn't go in depth enough to give needed information. Furthermore, the psychosocial evaluation merely repeats what other assessments have already stated and seems to be an unnecessary task. The psychosocial evaluation does have a section for the social worker to write in strengths of the patient but doesn't guide the social worker in identifying strengths. Thus, the psychosocial evaluation isn't strengths focused.
I feel that there could be a better use of the social worker's time. The psychosocial evaluation asks information that has already been obtained by other professionals, and therefore is pointless. Moreover, I feel that a strengths assessment would be more beneficial to the patient's treatment and recovery. I feel as though the social worker has a lot more to offer in the ways of strengths assessing.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Week 9
This week was similar to other weeks. I worked with clients, completed research, attended a group, and completed a psychosocial evaluation. I was a busy week and I anticipate that the following weeks will speed up.
Activities -
Activities -
- Completed psychosocial evaluation on patient and interviewed family member.
- Attended Cognitive Distortions Group
- Participated in treatment team meeting
- Worked with 3 patients
- Researched Borderline Personality Disorder in the Larue Carter Library
Integration question:
Policy/macro: What are the time frames needed for developing a treatment planning your agency from the time that the client enters your program. Who dictates that policy?
From what I have learned while being at Carter, there is no set time that the treatment plan has to be done. Each member of the treatment team has a different time frame for completing their part. For example, the social workers are required to have the psychosocial evaluation done within a week of the patient's admit date. However, it often isn't completed in time because it can be hard to get accurate information in a week.
With Carter, treatment planning is an ongoing process. Even though there might be a preliminary plan that gets completed, the plan is updated and changed frequently. Treatment is an ongoing process at Carter and can change greatly due to the nature of the patient's mental illness.
The policy is dictated in part by DMHA (Department of Mental Health and Addictions) and mostly by the Clinical Director. However, each department, (i.e. psychiatry, social work, nursing) has a different time frame depending on what needs to be accomplished.
Total Hours this week (including 2 seminar hours): 17 hrs and 30 min
Total Hours to date: 148 hrs and 40 min
From what I have learned while being at Carter, there is no set time that the treatment plan has to be done. Each member of the treatment team has a different time frame for completing their part. For example, the social workers are required to have the psychosocial evaluation done within a week of the patient's admit date. However, it often isn't completed in time because it can be hard to get accurate information in a week.
With Carter, treatment planning is an ongoing process. Even though there might be a preliminary plan that gets completed, the plan is updated and changed frequently. Treatment is an ongoing process at Carter and can change greatly due to the nature of the patient's mental illness.
The policy is dictated in part by DMHA (Department of Mental Health and Addictions) and mostly by the Clinical Director. However, each department, (i.e. psychiatry, social work, nursing) has a different time frame depending on what needs to be accomplished.
Total Hours this week (including 2 seminar hours): 17 hrs and 30 min
Total Hours to date: 148 hrs and 40 min
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Week 8
This week, I continued to work with the clients from the following week and worked on blogging. I also completed my Midterm Evaluation.
Activities -
Activities -
- Blogged
- Worked with clients on establishing goals
- Attended Rounds meeting on Wednesday
- Reviewed past psychosocial evaluations of patients
- Researched psychiatric disorders in the DSM-IV
HBSE/micro: What theories of development would be useful for you to know about in your field placement?
Total Hours to date: 131 hrs and 10 min
- Erikson's Theory of Psycho-social Development
- Freud's Psychodynamic Theory
- Bandura's Social Learing Theory
- Piaget's Cognitive-Development Theory
Total Hours to date: 131 hrs and 10 min
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