A student reports this situation:
The hospital social worker (my supervisor) was consulted on a case with a family without permanent housing.The patient was a three year old boy who was hospitalized with asthma. His mother and two siblings, a nine and four year old, were living with the boy in a shelter. At the time, the family had no health insurance, but were working on getting ACCESS. So the little boy had to use a friend’s nebulizerfor his asthma.
When the social worker was brought in, she reviewed the case and said: "There is nothing I can do, because they have nohealth insurance." She told the nurses, "He will have to keep sharing hisfriend’s nebulizer." She also didn’t do anything to help the family with theirliving situation. Basically, it seems she did nothing to help the family bettertheir situation.
Since the social worker didn’t provide any assistance with the case, the nurses didtheir best to help the family out. The one nurse used the hospital’s emergencyfund, which is used to help patients pay for medical services or medications,to get a nebulizer for the patient. I was astounded and actually ashamed of my supervisor's behavior, but I did nothing. What should I have done? I felt like I was in a real dilemma of whether to report her behavior and/or go around her and try to help the family.
The hospital social worker (my supervisor) was consulted on a case with a family without permanent housing.The patient was a three year old boy who was hospitalized with asthma. His mother and two siblings, a nine and four year old, were living with the boy in a shelter. At the time, the family had no health insurance, but were working on getting ACCESS. So the little boy had to use a friend’s nebulizerfor his asthma.
When the social worker was brought in, she reviewed the case and said: "There is nothing I can do, because they have nohealth insurance." She told the nurses, "He will have to keep sharing hisfriend’s nebulizer." She also didn’t do anything to help the family with theirliving situation. Basically, it seems she did nothing to help the family bettertheir situation.
Since the social worker didn’t provide any assistance with the case, the nurses didtheir best to help the family out. The one nurse used the hospital’s emergencyfund, which is used to help patients pay for medical services or medications,to get a nebulizer for the patient. I was astounded and actually ashamed of my supervisor's behavior, but I did nothing. What should I have done? I felt like I was in a real dilemma of whether to report her behavior and/or go around her and try to help the family.
RSS Feed