Why Is Medical Social Work Semi-professionalization?

Medical social work is a product of institutional catalysis,but its development in China is characterized by semi-professionalization.There are two development modes of medical social work in China: Purchasing Social Work Mode and Directly Employing Social Work Mode.However,Directly Employing Social Work Mode shows obvious problems of professional inadequacy in the development process.Therefore,this study selects the typical institution of Directly Employing Social Work Mode——Jiangsu X hospital social work office,taking it as the research object,using qualitative research methods,to explore the professional practice and existing problems of medical social work.This study uses methods of literature,interview and participatory observation to collect data,builds a framework to analyze the problem of semiprofessionalization of medical social work from the perspective of professional autonomy,and analyzes the current situation of the development of medical social work and the interaction between medical social work and other subjects in the hospital from the perspectives of "legal jurisdiction","workplace jurisdiction" and "professional control".The main conclusions are as follows:(1)the semi-professionalization of medical social work is mainly manifested in three aspects: the professional role of medical social work is vague,even confused with the role of volunteers;the proportion in social work service is out of balance,the service content is mainly about volunteer management and social assistance,and the proportion in clinical social work service and the alleviation of doctor-patient relationship is small;in the process of service,the tendency of activity is obvious,and the professionalism is difficult to reflect;(2)The lack of legal jurisdiction of medical social work,vague jurisdiction of workplace and insufficient professional control result in the semi-professionalization of medical social work.Specifically speaking,the imperfection of the medical social work system has resulted in the unclear positioning of the medical social work in the specific development process and the confusion of roles;in the interaction with related subjects in the hospital,restricted by medical staff,patients and hospital management system,medical social workers transfer part of the professionalism to obtain the development in the hospital;the lack of professional control of medical social work itself and the imperfect professional education system make it difficult for medical social workers to make full use of professional knowledge to provide accurate professional services for patients in the process of practice.Based on the research conclusion,this article puts forward some suggestions to promote the professional development of medical social work in China.Firstly,strengthen the medical social work system design.The country should improve the construction of medical social work system,including post setting,career promotion system,professional standards,education and training system.Secondly,hospitals and universities should make joint efforts to promote the development of medical social work.Hospitals should clarify the orientation of medical social workers in hospitals and strive to establish equal professional status between medical social workers and medical workers.Colleges and universities should establish a reasonable training system for students majoring in medical social work,so as to cultivate students suitable for the actual conditions in China.Finally,we should increase social publicity to enhance the social identity of medical social work.