Core Competencies 1-5

Presentation

By: Brittany Floyd

Core Competency: 1
Identify as a professional social
worker and conduct oneself
accordingly.

Generalist Practice Behavior: 1.1

Advocate for client access to

the services of social work.
In this profession, getting the clients the
services (home health or hospice care) or
supplies (hospital beds, catheters, walkers,
or wheelchairs) they need is a crucial role.

Generalist practice behavior: 1.2

Practice personal reflection and

self-correction to assure continual
professional development.
In order to assure continual professional
development, it is my duty to complete daily
time journals that not only help practice with
my personal reflection, but they also help to
reflect back on aspects that I need to improve
in this profession.

Generalist practice behavior: 1.3

Attend to professional roles and

boundaries.
In the social work profession, it is vital to always
attend to professional roles and boundaries. If the
boundaries are crossed, then this could result into the
client not receiving the best practice available. With
that being said, when assessing clients, if there is
something that is out of my realm with expertise, I
always make sure to discuss with my supervisor on
what would be the best practice for the client.

Generalist practice behavior: 1.4

Demonstrate professional demeanor in

behavior, appearance, and communication.
In this setting, it is important that I look and dress
proficient, as well as act accordingly as I would in a
professional manner. I have learned throughout this
experience that communication skills are a key aspect
as a medical social worker. When using these
perspectives, it is central to always stay positive and to
help those around you because after all this is what
professionalism is all about.

Generalist practice behavior: 1.5

Engage in career-long
learning.
Continuing to learn and educate more about
the different target populations who are
admitted into the hospital setting. Examples
of these populations include: indigent, inpatient, out-patient, and self-pay clients.

Generalist practice behavior: 1.6

Use supervision and

consultation.
Throughout the day, I always make sure to
discuss with my supervisor if there are any
questions of concerns I may have. Also, if
there is something that I feel is way out of
my league, I always make sure to consult
and refer back with my supervisor on what
to do.

Core Competency: #2
Apply social work ethical
principles to guide
professional practice.

Generalist practice behavior: 2.1

Recognize and manage personal values in a way

that allows professional values to guide practice.
Within this profession, it is important to put aside my
personal values in order to provide the best practice.
For example, there was a client who was 24 weeks
pregnant, but tested positive for marijuana. This is
against my personal belief's; however, I have to put my
personal values aside and do what is best for the
patient.

Generalist practice behavior: 2.2

Make ethical decisions by applying standards of the

National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and,
as applicable, of the International Federation of Social
Workers/International Association of Schools of Social
Work Ethics in Social Work, Statement of Principles.
In this profession, the main NASW code of ethics that has been
used is confidentiality and social justice. As an intern, I have
agreed to not expose any information about my clients outside of
the agency. As for social justice, it is within my role as well as the
social work profession, to provide and find services/resources for
patients so that they can get the best practice available.

Generalist practice behaviors:

2.3
Tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical
conflicts.
During this setting, there can be uncertainty
or doubtfulness that could have two different
meanings, which could result into ethical
conflicts. Therefore, if I were put into a
situation such as this, I believe the best
thing to do would be to discuss this issue
with my supervisor and to go from there.

Generalist practice behaviors:

2.4

Apply strategies of ethical reasoning to arrive at

principled decisions.

In the social work profession, using the NASW code of ethics

when making ethical decisions is the efficient way to succeed
in this field. For example, there was a psych patient that
asked the doctor if he would give him some kind of
medication to kill him; he stated that he would even pay the
doctor. The patient had no family that would take
responsibility of him. Ethically, the patient cannot go home;
therefore, the social worker found a mental health facility that
would take the patient and help with his issues.

Core competency: #3

Apply critical thinking to inform

and communicate professional
judgements.

Generalist practice behaviors:

3.1
Distinguish, appraise, and integrate multiple sources of knowledge,
including research-based knowledge, and practice wisdom.

While being an intern student in this profession, there is so much knowledge

that I have gained, whether it was by asking my supervisor, the case
managers, or the nurses or by simply researching information . There have
been many cases where I ask what the different diagnoses are because it
helps when assessing the patients in knowing what they are admitted for.
This also helps me in case I need to ask the patient if they need any kind of
rehab or home health services.
Also, many times when I am assessing patients, I do have a tendency of
asking different staff members their different approaches of how they
practice in this setting.

Generalist practice behaviors:

3.2
Analyze models of assessment, prevention, intervention,
and evaluation.
On a day to day basis, since I have been interning I have had the
chance to assess different patients who are admitted. Assessment
is a chance to get to know more about the patient, other than
their diagnoses. It gives the social worker an understanding of the
patient and what services they will need when discharged. With
that being said, assessment helps with evaluating and discharging
the patient. For example, if the patient needs home health
services when discharged, the social worker will find this material
out when assessing the patient, and from there she can facilitate
the transition and endings for the patient.

Generalist practice behaviors:

3.3
Demonstrate effective oral and written communication in
working with individuals, families, groups, organizations,
communities, and colleagues.
During my days at McLeod, I am constantly assessing or talking
with patients; therefore, I have a tendency of always preparing
what Im going to say to the patients. Im always reassuring
myself, if Im asking or saying the right thing to say to the patient?
Within the assessment interview, I am constantly writing down
what the patient states. By doing this model effectively, the social
workers or case managers are about to help the patient get the
service they need efficiently.

Core competency: #4

Engage diversity and difference in practice.

Generalist practice behaviors:

4.1
Recognize the extent to which a
cultures structures and values may
oppress, marginalize, alienate, or
create or enhance privilege and power.
When assessing and interviewing clients, it is
important that I understand the structure of
their culture. In order to respect their
culture, I need to do research in knowing
what is safe to ask, so that I am not
discriminating the patient and their culture.

Generalist practice behaviors:

4.2
Gain sufficient self-awareness to eliminate the
influence of personal biases and values in
working with diverse groups.
Within this profession, it is important to understand that
individuals have different ethnic backgrounds than my
own; therefore, when assessing patients, it is my
responsibility to review their charts so that I am aware of
how to go about asking my questions. For example, I
made a mistake by walking into a patients room to
interview them, only to realize they did not speak English
at all.

Generalist practice behaviors:

4.3
Recognize and communicate their understanding
of the importance of difference in shaping life
experiences.
It is important that I understand, as a social worker, a
patients history and where they come from because
this shapes the person into who they are today. For
example, a patient may be admitted into the hospital,
but may refuse medications because their culture does
not approve or a patient may have to have surgery and
refuse the procedure because it would go against their
culture.

Generalist practice behaviors:

4.4
View themselves as learners and engage those
with whom they work as informants.
As a social work intern, it is my responsibility to
understand that I am a learner and that I do not know
everything there is within the medical social work
profession. When I have no clue about specific
information, I am constantly asking my supervisor
questions. There is some information I may even ask
the client, if I do not understand. Not only am I helping
clients, but they are also informing me as well.

Core competency: #5

Advance human rights and social and economic justice.

Generalist practice behavior: 5.1

Understand the forms and mechanisms of

oppression and discrimination.
In the hospital setting, it is important that each
patient be treated equally regardless of their
ethnicity or cultural background. In this profession,
there are no patients who are more superior than
others; everyone should be treated with the same
respect and with the best treatment possible to
improve the clients situation.

Generalist practice behavior: 5.2

Advocate for human rights and social and

economic justice.
Each day in the hospital setting, I am advocating for
clients whether its by giving them information about
advanced directives or helping them get medical
equipment, home health services, or nursing home
placements. I am also advocating for clients when I
feel they are not properly being taking care of or when
they are not receiving the services they need in order
to improve their situation.

Generalist practice behavior: 5.3

Engage in practices that advance social and economic

justice.

While being here at McLeod Hospital, I am constantly engaging in helping

patients receive the services they may need and the treatment they
deserve. In order to do so, it is my job to tell patients about different
services, such as short-term or long-term rehab or nursing home facilities.
For example, we had a patient who was not approved to go to the nursing
home because he was not fit for inpatient, and also because many facilities
would not accept his insurance. The patient could not return home because
his family would not take on this responsibility. Therefore, we did
everything within our power to get this patient to be qualified for inpatient
so that he could receive the services he truly needed.