(not so) CHEAP SOCIAL WORKER

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Showing posts with the label work

I Need More Self-Care

- April 07, 2012

It's ironic that I wrote a post on self-care since I've been working so much lately! With my continued long commute and 5-6 day work weeks, work really took a toll on me these past few months. Things I experienced include: Poor eating habits: I certainly engaged in lots of emotional eating this past month, mostly chocolate. Increased acne: Probably from stress and lack of sleep. Increased irritability and poor mood: Likely from lack of sleep and exhaustion from work. Increased sleepiness: I've actually had to pull over and nap in my car several times during my afternoon commute. Not good! Lack of productivity: This is demonstrated by things like my messy room and lack of blog updates! This month, I'm definitely going to take a few days from work and perhaps take a trip somewhere. Self-care is something that should not be neglected by social workers. I know that I was not giving my best during these past few weeks. Hopefully after some recharging ...

About Social Services at a Hospital

- February 12, 2012

Medical social work is an expansive field, encompassing areas such as hospice, home health, skilled nursing, and acute hospitals. After a few scary moments in home health , I've decided to stay in the acute setting until I experience complete medical social worker burnout . Though considered a specific area of practice, hospital social work is actually relatively broad. Social services departments vary in function from hospital to hospital, with individual social workers performing correspondingly diverse roles. I've found that certain tasks I perform at one hospital might be performed by a completely different profession at another, or just omitted entirely. When asked what I do at work, I often have a hard time explaining due to the variety of tasks I perform every day. However, after some thought, I've manage to divide my roles into five categories. These categories are not mutually exclusive, and some hospitals may not even have social workers performing tasks in al...

Social Work: Where Workplace Violence is the Norm, Not the Exception

- August 06, 2011

In Major League Baseball, fights such as last night's bench clearing brawl between the Giants and the Phillies are not the norm. Contrarily, workplace violence is a risk faced by social workers on a daily basis. Since entering the work force a little over a year ago, I've been bitten/chased by dogs, exposed to a multitude of diseases, threatened with physical harm, assigned to unsafe neighborhoods, and called to deal with aggressive individuals. I know that as I continue my career as a medical and home health social worker, I'll inevitably encounter many more risky situations. While I try to be aware of my surroundings and take precautionary measures (such as keeping pepper spray in my purse during home health visits), there are those scary moments when I find myself thinking, "Please don't hurt me!" Here are a few things I've done in an attempt to minimize my risk at work: -Carry pepper spray with me during home visits -Inform friends and family when...

How Other Professions View Social Work

- July 09, 2011

Yesterday, I was talking to my mom about how the RN case managers at one of my jobs often have to stay several hours after their shift making reports to different insurance companies. My mom, a bedside nurse of over 20 years, scoffed at the idea of RN case managers having stressful jobs and stated, "All they do is talk and sit in front of a computer all day. Their job is so easy." In the past, my mom has made similar comments about social work, stating that all we do is "talk to people", while people like her have to clean bodily fluids and give medication. Hence, my mom feels that MSW salaries are fair when compared to Associates and Bachelor's degrees in nursing. I feel that despite being a nurse for so long, my mom still lacks understanding of what social workers and RN case managers do in a hospital setting. While I do try to educate her, my mom frequently reminds me that I am a "rookie" and that she has been in the field for 20 years. Out or...

Social Work Burnout Happens In Different Ways

- March 19, 2011

While having a discussion with my mom today, she said the following: "Chinese people don't want to be social workers because there is no prestige in the profession. They all want to be doctors." Instead of arguing the many things wrong with her statement, I opted to remain silent as I've had this conversation with her thousands of times before to no avail. What sets me apart from many of my social work friends is that the majority of my stress does not come from work. It comes from having to come home at the end of the day and hear about how I am "less than" because I do not have a more "prestigious" job. Furthermore, coming home from work is like going to a second job. Since my mom is a nurse, she spends dinner time railing about her latest problem patient (like I don't encounter lots of them at work) and lecturing me about what I should be doing at work as a medical social worker. She tells me that nursing is significantly harder than a...

Happy Case Management Week!

- October 13, 2010

At work, I am part of the Case Management Department. This department consists of nurse case managers, social workers, and assistants who work in tandem on a patient's discharge. While case managers handle the medical aspects of a discharge, the social worker's primary role is to address social issues such as coping, substance abuse, family dynamics, community support, safety, abuse, and end of life decision making. This week is National Case Management Week, and I am pretty happy that my job is including the social workers in the festivities. This week, I received a free pin, free lunch, and free gift certificates. Very sweet. Next up: National Social Work Month in March! Don't forget to thank your case manager, social worker, and discharge planner for ensuring that each hospital patient gets discharged in a safe and timely manner!