Medical Social Work

What is Medical Social Work?

In addition to physical care, individuals living with a serious illness may also need emotional, financial and social support. Medical social work is a field that focuses on supporting patients and their families by helping them navigate the many challenges in the health care system.

Medical Social Worker

Individuals living with a serious illness will develop signs of anxiety, depression, pain or discomfort, social isolation, and so much more. For these reasons, Pallatus Health includes the medical social workers (MSW) as a critical part of our home, palliative and hospice care services.

Our medical social workers focus on supporting patients and their families, assuring that their emotional and social needs are met through their medical treatment.

Medical Social Workers Responsibilities

• Overcoming crisis situations
• Help patients and their families navigate the medical system
• Assess and monitor patients’ and family members’ mental and emotional health
• Communicate patient needs and concerns to the larger medical team
• Provide mental health assessment and counseling
• Organize and lead peer groups for patients 
• Connect patients to other support services in the area

Navigating the medical system can be overwhelming and complicated for patients and their families. Our medical social workers focus on providing individuals living with acute and chronic illness with everything from mental health and social support to home, palliative and hospice care services.