Social workers in hospitals and medical centers provide frontline services to patients with conditions spanning the entire health care continuum. According to a national survey of licensed social workers, hospitals are the most common primary employment setting for health care social workers (Whitaker, Weismiller, Clark & Wilson, 2006). For purposes of this document, the term “hospital” refers to the variety of general and specialized acute care medical facilities.
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Psychiatric hospitals specialize in the treatment of mental illnesses and provide mental health services in settings such as acute care, partial hospitalization, and residential care. Some hospitals admit patients on a voluntary basis, while others commit patients involuntarily in instances where the patients may pose a danger to themselves or others. Depression, severe anxiety, psychotic, and substance-related disorders are examples of some of the illnesses treated.
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The goal of hospice and palliative care is to improve the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual quality of life for people living with a serious illness and their families. The terms hospice and palliative care describe two distinct but closely related models of care, both interdisciplinary in nature and available across a wide range of settings.
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While advances in detection and treatment of childhood cancers are helping thousands of children live longer, the short- and long-term effects of cancer have an impact on an individual’s life from every standpoint — physically, psychologically, educationally, cognitively, vocationally, spiritually, socially and financially.
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The National Center for Health in Public Housing provides training and technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of federally-funded health centers to increase access to health care, eliminate health disparities, and enhance health care delivery for the millions of residents of public and assisted housing.
The National Center for Health in Public Housing hosts educational webinars to keep our community health center clinicians and others up to date on the latest issues, trends and developments affecting health care delivery to the medically underserved.
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