interview with a practical social worker (8 page)

During my interview the name of the agency was called (Name of the agency)Sentara

Northern Virginia Medical Center. Jessica, who was the social worker I interviewed,

works at this hospital located in Woodbridge, VA as an (The social worker’s job title) Inpatient

Case Manager.( Range of the social worker’s responsibilities and activities.) As an Inpatient Case

Manager Jessica handles a lot of responsibilities as a social worker. She starts by

assessing the social, psychological, cultural, environmental, and financial situations, as

well as disposition needs for each referred patient. As an Inpatient Case Manager

Jessica not only works with the patients at the hospital but also collobrates with the

family , healthcare team members, and community organizations, as well as other

healthcare workers. Her main goal for the patients is to develop and evaluate effective

transition plans for proper discharging. Throughout the duration of time at the hospital

Jessica is responsible with keeping up with the patients beginning with getting a patient

and diagnosis, prognosis course of treatment, past and present services, short-term and

long-term goals, provider options, and/or available health care benefits as appropriate to

the continuum of care. At Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center the Inpatient Case

Managers will typically be assigned their own department and have the opportunity to

work with the same type of people unlike some hospitals where everyday you might

work on a different floor with different types of issues and people. Jessica works on the

NICU unit which stands for newborn intensive care unit. This unit provides specialized

around-the-clock care and monitoring for premature or ill newborns. (The kinds of clients

they work with.)During this challenging time Jessica will be working with the premature

babies and their parents or families. Premature babies are born before 37 weeks, unlike

a normal pregnancy range from 38 to 42 weeks.

For families facing the challenge of caring for a NICU infant, ProgenyHealth’s Case

Managers provide a clinical and emotional lifeline.