The role of the medical social worker as seen by doctors (A descriptive study applied to a sample of government and private hospitals in Jeddah)

This study aimed to identify the role of the medical social worker as seen by doctors, by defining the professional role of the social worker in the hospital, and also seeks to identify the obstacles facing the social worker in the hospital that are attributed to (the social worker, workers, management, capabilities and resources), and through the theoretical framework and the results of the study, proposals will be made to activate the role of the medical social worker in hospitals.
The researchers used the social survey method using the comprehensive inventory method, because it is one of the most appropriate methods for surveying the opinions and attitudes of the respondents with the aim of coming up with results that can be applied to reality and recognizing the profession in the medical field. The researchers designed the questionnaire tool that was distributed to the study sample members, and the response only reached 110 doctors, noting that the total number is (830) male and female doctors from Saudis and non-Saudis in the Makkah Al-Mukarramah region, represented by Jeddah Governorate in three government and private hospitals in the region.
The results of the study revealed regarding the role of the medical social worker as seen by doctors that the most prominent role is “writing the patient’s social assessment”, i.e. the role of the social worker as a data collector with an average of (2.53), which indicates the extent of the social worker’s professionalism in relation to the core of his work, and the least prominent role is “participation of the medical team in educational lectures”, i.e. the role of the social worker as a supporter with an average of (2.25), which may be due to the lack of procedures and policies that require summoning the social worker within the medical team to participate with them in educational lectures.
As for the obstacles to the role of the medical social worker, it became clear from the responses of doctors in hospitals that the most prominent obstacle is “lack of knowledge and experience with diseases and their nature” with an average of (2.41), which is due to the difficulty of the social worker’s familiarity with all diseases.
As for the proposals, it became clear that the most important proposal from the doctors’ point of view is to raise doctors’ awareness of the role of the social worker within the medical team, and accordingly the study reached a number of proposals and recommendations that are related to the effectiveness of the reality of the role of the medical social worker within Therapeutic team.