Standards for Social Work Practice in Health Care

October 1 2026

NASW is developing a task force for the revision of the 2016 Standards for Social Work Practice in Health Care Settings. NASW reviews and revises these standards to update best practices in the field of health care. Social workers utilize these guidelines to establish protocols and as a reference for delivering high-quality care.

We encourage social workers who have a minimum of 10 years of experience in health care and an active social work license apply. Healthcare includes inpatient, outpatient, community health, adult, pediatrics, nursing homes, or any health-related field. The task force is an 18-24 month commitment that requires attendance of virtual meetings and email communication between meetings as needed. You must be a NASW member to participate. If you would like to be considered for participation in this task force, please submit your résumé to healthstandards.nasw@socialworkers.org no later than November 6, 2026.