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Experiences and Implications of Social Workers Practicing in a Pediatric Hospital Environment Affected by Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

eBook details

Title: Experiences and Implications of Social Workers Practicing in a Pediatric Hospital Environment Affected by Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
Author : Health and Social Work
Release Date : January 01, 2007
Genre: Health & Fitness,Books,Health, Mind & Body,
Pages : * pages
Size : 256 KB

Description

The first cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) were reported in the rural province of Guangdong, China, in February 2003. Within four months, more than 8,000 people in 32 countries were infected with this new illness, resulting in more than 800 deaths ("Special Message," 2003).The last official cases were reported in late April 2004, but in January 2005 the World Health Organization stated that SARS is a growing concern for health care workers (World Health Organization, 2005). Hospital-based health care professionals are increasingly responding to external disasters in the form of natural disasters, large-scale industrial accidents, terrorism, and emergent epidemics. Increasingly, hospitals are the frontline of defense against larger outbreaks (Patrick, 2003). These external crises have an impact on society, health care professions, and patient care. Furthermore, they present unique challenges to social workers engaged in clinical work in hospitals (Dane & Chachkes, 2001). The sudden onset of SARS in hospital settings created an immediate necessity to study this phenomenon as hospitals, health care professionals, and researchers struggle to adapt to working in this new epidemic environment (Schabas, 2003). Recent studies (Chan-Yeung & Yu, 2003; Dwosh, Hong, Austgarden, Herman, & Schabas, 2003; Gerberding, 2003; Schabas) have responded by detailing the effects of SARS on hospitals and health care professionals. However, no research has specifically addressed social workers' new unique practicing environments in these hospital settings. Because social workers are an integral part of the health care professional team, more research is needed to explore possible implications specific to frontline social work practice. Therefore, this article focuses on the impact of SARS on social workers who practiced with children and their families across various programs in a pediatric hospital that implemented aggressive infection control measures. Recommendations are made for social work professionals practicing in settings affected by a rapidly spreading epidemic. Although our findings may not be directly generalizable to hospital-based social workers confronted by natural, external, or industrial disasters, we hope that these recommendations provide transferable information for clinical practice and research in an underinvestigated area.