The Social Work Department at Spring Grove Hospital began providing field placements to students in 1950. Currently field instruction placements are provided for Social Work students from schools with which there is a contract. These schools are the UMBC undergraduate program and the UMAB graduate program. Role of Social Work Students Social Work students begin their placements with a student orientation program which includes presentations on such topics as Patient Rights, Medical Record Documentation, Prevention and Management of Disturbed Behavior, and Psychopharmacology. After this introduction to staff responsibilities and patient care students gradually assume a small caseload.
Students move forward at their own speed, with close supervision by the field instructors.
As the placement continues students move toward greater independence. By the end of field placement most students carry out all the duties of the staff Social Workers. Social Workers at the hospital provide a full array of services to the patients. These services include initial psychosocial assessments, individual, group, and family interventions, and discharge planning. Students are also part of the interdisciplinary team and attend staff meetings such as treatment planning meetings.