Health Policies Discussion Response

 

 

Respond to the blog post of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Make a suggestion to your colleague’s post.
• Expand on your colleague’s posting.

Be sure to support your blog posts with specific references to this week’s resources and provide full APA citations for your references. For more information about posting your blog assignment, click on the Field Education Blogs link on the course navigation menu.

Colleague 1: Alyssa

Within my field experience organization, there is a policy change currently taking place that I will describe. Currently, the policy has been for all outpatient levels of care, including partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient, to receive agency transportation and lunch provided through the agency. We’ve just received confirmation today that this policy will be changing, to restrict transportation services and to no longer providing the option for lunch to our clients engaging in the intensive outpatient program. As it functions now, the intensive outpatient program is highly flexible for clients to engage in the program while seeking employment. However, with this change, clients will be restricted to the choice between two standard scheduling options. This has been a disappointing policy change for many staff members and may present as a barrier to clients currently engaged in the intensive outpatient program. As this information has just been released today, upper management are receiving feedback and so far have responded with the option to adjust the new policy as needed in the future. For me, as a student, I feel as though my voice is limited in the policy change. Birkenmaier and Berg-Weger validate this, stating, as a student our tasks and access may be limited (2018, p. 196). I have not had the opportunity to speak with my field supervisor about the change yet, but hope to follow-up with her on Friday and explore her opinions, come to form an educated opinion of my own, and learn more about my possible role in the change.

References

Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

Colleague 2: Mikala

Organizational Policy

Every agency has policies that have been implemented for the safety of the staff and the clients. I am currently completed my field experience with Toomey Residential and Community Services as a Therapist, in which I have been learning serval different policies. One policy in particular is our HIPPA and confidentiality policy. At Toomey, we are a community-based and home base provider, with this, it is important that we always adhere to HIPPA and confidentiality including when out in the community with clients. One way in which we complete this is having the family sign our HIPPA privacy during intake, we also required releases to be signed before we can gather or release information from other providers. When out in the community, we are asked to keep our badges/ identification away. This is to protect the privacy of the clients, as with our badges out it is a clear indicator of services being received.

Colleague 3: Latrice

Organizational Policy in Your Field Education Experience

My field education agency is called DQS Communications Healthcare Group, and it provides a wide array of mental health services including, therapy/counseling, mental health skill building, intensive home counseling, and substance abuse programs. The population serviced includes all age ranges, the LGBTQ, children, families, and individuals. As a mental health provider, DQS prides itself as being an organization that promotes everyone’s human rights, and respects their rights to their privacy. DQS adheres to the NASW Code of Ethics principles, values, and standards to ensure service delivery. DQS provides training to all of its staff members, which include going over our clients’ privacy and confidentiality, as well as safety plans for the agency and the clients that are serviced. The clinical providers at DQS hold weekly meetings, in which providers can discuss cases and find additional solutions or outcomes, and it allows for us as social workers to evaluate our skills and use them within our practice to ensure effectiveness (Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger, 2018, p. 187). DQS is a drug free agency, as I mentioned we provide substance abuse programs, which requires for participants to partake in random drug testing. DQS is nondiscriminatory agency, and promotes and provides services to all communities.

Reference

Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 8, “Social Work Practice in the Field: Working with Organizations, Communities, and Policy” pp. 187