Jane G is a medical social worker on staff in a large hospital in Los Angeles County. She has been in the field for more than 30 years, starting as a candy striper volunteer while still in high school. With an undergraduate degree in social work, she became a social work aide after college; she received her MSW while working at a teaching hospital that offered tuition assistance as part of its employee benefits program.
"I saw the field become professionalized," she notes. "When I first started, there weren't many MSW programs available. Now, they're offered all over the country. However, nothing beats experience."
Jane emphasizes the kind of skills her job requires: "The most important talent needed is the ability to listen. You need to really hear and understand the patient's needs. Each person is different. One may need home health care after discharge, another may be suffering from depression and not even realize it. My job is to use 30 years of experience to really understand each case." Other skills required include an understanding of the hospital bureaucracy "because otherwise I'd never be able to get anything done," Jane says.
Asked about her contributions to the field, Jane is modest. "I don't believe I've done much to transform the profession," she says, "but I've tried to keep current on the changes that are happening. I think the field itself has come to be better defined, which makes it better able to serve patients."
Not all change is progress, however. Jane is especially worried about the changes wrought by HMOs and other managed-care health plans. "Not every funder really understands what I do or why it's important," she notes. "In the rush to save money, these programs try to get patients in and out of the hospital as quickly as they can. More and more, we'll have patients come through here who I've never even met. This kind of thing worries me, because I might have been useful."