1. MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK AND INDIA
AUTHOR
Dr .A. K. AVASARALA
MBBS,M.D.
PROFESSOR &HEAD,
DEPT OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE & EPIDEMIOLOGY
PRATHIMA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, KARIMNAGAR,A.P..
INDIA :
Author profile :-After medical graduation, worked for 17 years in the field as primary care physician in primary health centres, area hospitals, mobile medical units, cholera combat team, filarial control project, casualty department, divisional secondary care hospitals
Then completed post graduation in public health medicine/preventive &social medicine &epidemiology and teaching medical graduates and post graduates, nursing students, physiotherapy students, primary care personnel for the last 15 years.
At present ,working as Professor & Head of the department of Community medicine & Epidemiology contributing to the cause of epidemiological spread and growth in India as Indian super course epidemiology developer .
Other eighteen super course lectures of author can be accessed at
www. pitt.edu/~super1/faculty/lecturers/htm

2. PROMPT
Medical social work, a powerful weapon to realize comprehensive and qualitative health care is used only in a few limited fields and less used.
It needs boosting up and revitalization, particularly among the medical students, doctors and health planners.
This thought prompted me for the development of this lecture

3. Learning objectives What is medical social work?
What are its guiding principles?
What are its working principles and methods?
Its usage in India?

4. Performance objectives
Learner should be able to
Practice Direct and Indirect assistance methods of Medical social work to realize qualitative and comprehensive health care .

5. Definition
It is the application and adoption of the method and philosophy of social work in the field of health and medical care.

6. Definitions
Branch of social work and deals with the social, physical and psychological aspects of patient.
Social work in medical setting
Using relevant social skills and knowledge to help the patients

7. History and background
In England, after the mental patients were discharged, visitors and nurses were asked to give advices to them .
Dr. Charles Emerson , USA opined that medical science should also include the study of emotional and social problems.
He suggested that medical students should work as volunteers under the charities and agencies.

8. History and background
Year 1905: Boston medical institutions appointed MSW (medical social worker) for the first time
In India, Tata Institute of social sciences had taken up the lead medial social work.

9. Fink ,the Sociologist
“Life is a series of interruption and recoveries.”
Man is a unity of mind and body and medicine must consider this unity.
Physiology, chemistry and biology cannot alone or together explain all intricacies of illness.
The disturbances of mind and body cannot be dealt with separately. They form the two phases of a single problem.

10. Nature and Scope
Medical social work is based on the assumption of the individual’s dignity
Guided and inspired by basic values social work

11. Nature& Scope According to medical social work--
health refers to that state or condition, in which an individual is capable to utilize all the capacities of his social living.

12. Nature and scope
Medical social work considers human health with a broad perspective.
The treatment is not the final solution for illness in medical social work.
Disease and diseased person are different from each other.

13. Nature and scope
Medical science gives emphasis on the disease but ignores the importance of the diseased person.
But the medical social work studies the diseased person viz. the social aspect of the disease.

14. Nature and Scope Medical social work deals with
the prevention of disease,
after care of the patients and
social rehabilitation of patients,
--and not just limited to the treatment of disease.

15. Uses To discover the social and psychological background of a patient
To make the patient free from his psychological tensions
To discover the psychosocial factors of the illness

16. Working concept
Medical social work deals with the those problems of the patient which are related to the physical and psychological environment
It is oriented towards the assistance of those people, who during their treatment, face social, physical ,economic and psychological problems.

17. Working principles
mainly social techniques and mostly humanitarian in nature.
By enabling the patient for solving his problems (building up his capacities)
By determining the social and psychological influence.
By developing the willpower and determination of the patient

18. Working principles
4)By enabling the patient to adjust with his problems.
5)By developing proper environment

19. Working methods Case study method, Direct method of assistance
Indirect method of assistance

20. Case study method
By, case study method, MSW collects information with regard to the specific needs of the patient and works towards their fulfillment in accordance with the available means

21. Direct methods of assistance
MSW is directly involved in the assistance.
Social case work- Assistance is provided to the individual patient with the aim of developing his inherent capacity

22. Social group work- Direct assistance
Medical social worker tries at strengthening the social relations of the patient and works towards the development of a healthy social environment

23. Indirect methods of assistance
Community organization
Social administration
Social insurance and social security
Social action
Social work research

24. Indirect assistance
Community organization = organization of community resources with regard to health problem by MSW
Social administration= MSW guides the public opinion for enactment of new social legislations or any amendment in prevailing legislations
Social security& insurance= enabling the patient to utilize the facilities under social security and insurance by MSW

25. Indirect assistance
4)Social action= MSW participates in the movements of social action at the national (national health programme involvement) and international levels( world health days)
5)Social work research= MSW inspires surveys and investigations regarding the social ,economic and psychological problems of the patient

26. Medico social work in India
Less importance was given to this important branch of health promotion
Tata institute of Social Sciences is only pioneering and struggling in this field
Less awareness and practice of this very useful extension of health care delivery in India
most of the national health programmes are running at a snail pace due to non- use of this field of medicine.

27. Medico social work in India
Medical social work is limited to few areas of health care in India ---
Department of Sexually transmitted diseases
Department of pediatrics
Department of community medicine
Department of obstetrics

28. Summary
Medical social work is a very powerful and essential branch of medicine for realizing a comprehensive and qualitative health care.
As long as it is considered as an offshoot of social work, it draws little attention by the medical personnel and health planners. This is the problem in India.
Time has come to consider it as a part and parcel of medical and health care.

29. References.
Paul Chowdhary, “Introduction to social Work” third revised edition, Atmaram & sons, Delhi, Lucknow