The Importance of Clinical Social Workers in Elderly Healthcare and Support Systems

There reaches a point in the life of anyone who makes it to old age, where it is no longer possible to handle basic life requirements on their own. It’s at this same stage of life that doctor appointments become a very regular thing.

It takes a lot of time and effort to help manage someone’s healthcare requirements when the patient can’t play an active role in the process. Clinical social workers help by advocating fiercely for their patients, helping to make sure that their quality of care reflects both their wishes and their needs.

In this article, we take a look at how clinical social workers can help with elderly care.

What is a Clinical Social Worker?

Clinical social workers focus on the mental health aspects of patient care. They often work in hospital settings, though their work could also place them in nursing homes, community clinics, or even jails.

They are qualified to diagnose mental health disorders and help in prescribing a treatment regimen.

Older adults often experience a myriad of mental health concerns that are often under-addressed. It is very common for people receiving elder care to experience:

• Depression- Usually, at this stage of life, the patient has experienced a significant reduction in their ability to take care of themselves. They may need help with everything from hygienic concerns to even things as basic as crossing a room. Naturally, these experiences are often accompanied by feelings of depression.
• Anxiety- These individuals are also nearing the end of their lives. This naturally, can create feelings of fear and anxiety.
• Isolation- Often, the patient will lack a robust support system. Their partner may have passed on some time ago. Their children may be busy working adults, and people in their peer group will have either passed on or aged to the point that they can’t do much to help.

Clinical social workers can help identify these concerns and work toward finding solutions. While there isn’t always a perfect fix to the problem—the underlying cause of the patient’s mental health concerns is usually untreatable—even having someone to discuss their feelings with can do a lot to improve the patient’s worldview.

How Do Clinical Social Workers Administer Care?

The clinical social worker may be directed toward patients with mental health struggles. In the case of elderly patients, or anyone with a terminal illness, some hospitals make these referrals automatic.

The social worker will go directly to the patient. From there, they will:

• Meet with the patient. The clinical social worker will create a safe space for the patient to express their concerns and feelings openly. This initial evaluation helps determine the best course of treatment.
• Develop a comprehensive care plan. This plan will address both immediate mental health concerns and long-term support needs. The social worker will typically coordinate this plan with doctors, nurses, and family members to make sure everyone is on the same page.  
• Provide ongoing counseling sessions. Usually, interactions between the patient and the social worker will be ongoing. They will monitor their progress and regularly review their needs to make sure that the treatment plan continues to reflect their best interests.

The process emphasizes “holistic care.” Holistic care tends to emphasize every aspect of the patient. The problem they are experiencing, but also their mental/emotional/spiritual state of mind. Holistic care is particularly beneficial in cases of elderly patients because their physical condition isn’t eligible for improvement, but their frame of mind is.

The Counselling Network

To become very effective at their jobs, clinical social workers will often develop an informal network of cooperating professionals. The idea is often to exchange ideas and generally improve the level of support that they give.

Maintaining this network can be as simple as developing friendly relationships with a wide range of professionals around the hospital, or as complex as attending conferences and participating in online forums.

Like any other profession, the clinical social worker will often find that their professional network grows naturally with time. The more places they work, the more people they collaborate with, the larger their personal resources will ultimately become.

How to Become a Clinical Social Worker

Starting at the beginning, social workers typically need to get a BSW (bachelor’s in social work) to begin their careers. This will qualify them to work in pretty traditional social work placements—like those involving family reunification programs.

For more specialized work, like clinical care, they will need to go on to get their master’s degree. An MSW can be acquired in 1-2 years and will qualify you to begin your state’s clinical licensing process.

While requirements vary from region to region, they generally involve significant supervised clinical experience. In other words, you’ll need to have a licensed clinical social worker with you for the first 2000 or so hours of your professional life.

This requirement can generally be completed in about two years, after which point you are able to work independently.

Conclusion

The unfortunate reality is that patients in elder care are usually beyond the point of getting better. The best clinical social worker in the world can’t change that. The goal, in these cases, is not to improve the patient outcome, but rather, their experience.

Hospitals are cold, clinical environments. In the United States, doctors and nurses are trained to focus primarily on the problem. What is causing the issue? What is the best way to alleviate it?

But when there isn’t a way to alleviate it, holistic care—treatment that focuses on the complete person—is more important than ever. Clinical social workers interacting with elderly patients will never have the opportunity to save their lives, but they can add peace and dignity to their final days.