Medical social work is a sub-discipline of social work that addresses social components of medicine. Medical social workers typically work in a hospital, outpatient clinic, community health agency, skilled nursing facility, long-term care facility or hospice. They work with patients and their families in need of psychosocial help. Medical social workers assess the psychosocial functioning of patients and families and intervene as necessary. The role of a medical social worker is to "restore balance in an individual’s personal, family and social life, in order to help that person maintain or recover his/her health and strengthen his/her ability to adapt and reintegrate into society." Interventions may include connecting patients and families to necessary resources and support in the community such as preventive care; providing psychotherapy, supportive counseling, or grief counseling; or helping a patient to expand and strengthen their network of social supports. In short, a medical social worker provides services in three domains: intake and psychosocial assessment, case management and supportive therapy, and discharge planning and ongoing care that extends after hospitalization. They are also involved in patient and staff education, as well as with policy research for health programs. Professionals in this field typically work with other disciplines such as medicine, nursing, physical, occupational, speech, and recreational therapy.
A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispenses medication per the prescription or order form. The English term originated from the medieval Latin noun dispensaria and is cognate with the Latin verb dispensare, 'to distribute'.
A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency department to treat urgent health problems ranging from fire and accident victims to a sudden illness. A district hospital typically is the major health care facility in its region, with many beds for intensive care and additional beds for patients who need long-term care. Specialized hospitals include trauma centers, rehabilitation hospitals, children's hospitals, seniors' (geriatric) hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric treatment and certain disease categories. Specialized hospitals can help reduce health care costs compared to general hospitals. Hospitals are classified as general, specialty, or government depending on the sources of income received.
The Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium was located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Founded in 1915, it was a municipal organization which included a sanatorium, dispensaries, and other auxiliary agencies essential in the control of tuberculosis. The sanitarium was the largest municipal sanitarium in the country and had a capacity of 950 beds.
Examples of health care systems of the world, sorted by continent, are as follows.
The Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, commonly known as the Red House Hospital, is a teaching hospital in Shanghai, China, affiliated with the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University. It is rated Grade 3, Class A, the highest rating in the Chinese medical system.
Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children was a women's and children's hospital in San Francisco, California, US, founded in 1875, renamed Children's Hospital in 1877. Children's Hospital merged with Presbyterian Hospital in 1991, and within two years, a large joint physician group was established. It was subsequently acquired by California Pacific Medical Center.
Mary Gage Day was an American physician and medical writer. Day published several papers on Locoweed, including two articles in the New York Medical Journal, from which the definition of "Loco Disease" was created in Frank Pierce Foster's New Medical Dictionary. She died in 1935.
Katherine Stewart MacPhail OBE was a Scottish surgeon. During World War I, she served as Chief Medical Officer of two units of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service. She cared for the wounded in Serbia, France, and the Thessaloniki Front. In 1921, during her stay in Serbia, she founded the country's first children's hospital. While she is remembered as a national hero in Serbia, she was criticised by some for providing her expertise in Serbia rather than in her own country. Her honours include several medals, plaques, and a postage stamp.
Eleanor Soltau (1877–1962) was an English doctor who led the first unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service in Serbia.
Mary J. Scarlett Dixon was an American physician and abolitionist from Pennsylvania.
National Homeopathic Hospital is a defunct American hospital. Located in Washington, D.C., it was established in 1881, and became Hahnemann Hospital in 1956.
Duxhurst Industrial Farm Colony was a British voluntary in-patient residential institution for the treatment and cure of habitual alcoholic women. It was founded in 1895 at Duxhurst, near Reigate, Surrey, England, by Lady Henry Somerset. Lady Henry was the first woman in England to pay attention to the inebriety of women, and she founded, at Duxhurst, the first industrial farm colony for alcoholic women. Using gender-specific religious treatment, Duxhurst was the largest of the retreat institutions in England in its day. It was funded by Lady Henry with contributions from the National British Women's Temperance Association (B.W.T.A.) and the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.WC.T.U.).
Louise C. Purington was an American physician and temperance movement leader. She collaborated with Frances Willard in the early movements and efforts of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). Purington served as National Superintendent of the W.C.T.U.'s Department of Health and Heredity. She contributed to leading periodicals, as well as publishing manuals and leaflets, in both missionary and temperance lines.
Fannie Almara Dunn Quain was an American family physician and public health advocate who was the first woman born in North Dakota to earn a doctor of medicine degree. She led a state campaign to eradicate tuberculosis and helping to establish baby clinics and the North Dakota State Tuberculosis Sanitarium. Quain also was a founder and president of the North Dakota Tuberculosis Association, and helped improve standards for nurses' training in the state.
Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids was an American sanatorium charity hospital. Founded in 1884 in Manhattan, New York at Avenue A and 84th Street, the sanatorium relocated to a larger building in Manhattan on 138th Street before removing to The Bronx in 1910. It also changed names several times.
Montefiore Home Country Sanitarium was an American sanatorium located in Bedford Hills, Westchester County, New York. Opened in September 1897, it was under the same management as the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids at Manhattan, New York. The country sanitarium was situated in a sheltered situation on the Berkshire Hills, at an elevation of about 450 feet (140 m), and was 60 miles (97 km) from New York City or one and a half hours by rail.
Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children in Lakewood Township, New Jersey was the first preventorium in the United States. It opened in July 1909, as an expression of Nathan Straus' desire to prevent the spread of tuberculosis among children. The children were selected mainly by the Association of Tuberculosis Clinics and were passed upon by the Department of Health of New York City. There were 32 of these clinics, to the nearest of which the parents applied. No discrimination was made as to race or creed, and there was no charge for transportation or board.
The Fabiola Hospital is a defunct American hospital in Oakland, California. Named after Saint Fabiola, it was founded in 1876 by 18 women. The medical staff was composed of representatives from the homeopath and eclectic schools. This allowed patients entering the hospital to have their choice as to their method of treatment. The hospital association was popular and well supported. They managed the hospital well, free from debt, as well as a training school for nurses, an ambulance system, and district nursing. Nurses were supplied from the hospital for private cases.
