Interdisciplinary Collaboration:
2.03 Interdisciplinary Collaboration
a. Social workers who are members of an interdisciplinary team should participate in and contribute to decisions that affect the wellbeing of clients by drawing on the perspectives, values, and experiences of the social work profession. Professional and ethical obligations of the interdisciplinary team as a whole and of its individual members should be clearly established.
b. Social workers for whom a team decision raises ethical concerns should attempt to resolve the disagreement through appropriate channels. If the disagreement cannot be resolved, social workers should pursue other avenues to address their concerns consistent with client well-being. (p. 5)
The Code suggests that the social work profession, including the unique values, perspective, and experiences, is an advantageous component of interdisciplinary practice. Also, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) supports social work education programs with an emphasis on IC and asserts that “interprofessional and collaborative efforts often provide the best care and result in the best outcomes” (CSWE, n.d., p. 1). Given that as a social worker, you will frequently interact with professionals from other fields including medicine, legal, government, health and mental health providers, political, educational, law enforcement and emergency services, and others, it is important to explore social work’s role in and contribution to IC. For example, one unique value social work brings to IC is “Dignity and Worth of the Person.” Social workers advocate for the client’s right to self-determination and promote the client’s appropriate level of involvement in developing their own treatment plans (NASW, 2017). Therefore, social workers would advocate for the client to be an active, participating member of their treatment teams. Social workers participating in IC with clients as team members should treat clients as equal partners in the process, respect diversity, involve the client in assessment and care planning as appropriate, and share results and feedback with clients as permitted by law and agency policies.
Social work has promoted interdisciplinary collaboration throughout most of the field’s professional history. For example, considered the first professional social worker, Jane Addams founded the Hull House in 1889, completing significant work with advocates and experts across the fields of education, labor, juvenile protection, immigration, welfare, housing, and suffrage, and others (Hull House, n.d.). Integrated care settings (such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, juvenile justice, child welfare, long-term care centers, etc.) decrease the fragmentation of services for vulnerable and at-risk populations (SAMHSA, n.d.).
IC is partnership in action, which has become essential to social work practice. The authors also discuss three levels of IC that correspond well with the levels of social work practice: Strategic (macro practice), Intermediate (mezzo practice), and Operational (micro practice).
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