End Of Life Care

Social workers in the geriatric or end-of-life care field are essential because they are crucial for elderly clients in helping them transition properly to the final stages of their lives. The training that each social worker receives and the resources that they provide are important in helping the clients and their families through the ending stages of life and provide diverse ranges of assistance.

Role of The Social Worker in Helping Plan End-Of-Life Care The role of each social worker when helping clients plan for end-of-life care is to address the client and their family’s needs in areas of “counseling, religious and cultural resources, reassurance of patient care, and a plan of care” (McCormick, Curtis, Stowell-Weiss, Toms, & Engelberg,

The social worker shall engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that people have equal access to resources to meet their biopsychosocial needs in palliative and end of life care” (p. 4).

Thoughts on Palliative Care, Euthanasia, Hospice Care, or Other Factors. In relation to palliative care and social work practice, the job satisfaction of a social worker and the needs of each family correlate. The same is similar for hospice care. According to McCormick et al. (2010), “social workers active in medical settings report that they have not received training or coping strategies in palliative care” (p. 297). The continual emotional rollercoaster from experiencing death of a client or knowledge that in geriatric healthcare this is their final stage of life can be overwhelming for each social work practitioner. Lack of training along with the increase in caseloads results in many social workers

The elderly experiences many emotional and physical changes as they reach late adulthood. Many experience emotional changes such as loneliness or depression that relate to many factors such as loss of independence or by losing loved ones, or fading health. A decrease in physical or social activity, finances, interaction with loved ones, and the requirement to live in a nursing home can result in a declining will to live (Chima, 2002). Social workers are important in end-of-life care because they have an understanding of human behavior which helps them determine what is needed to decrease the suicidal risk factors of the elderly. But there is also the factor of elderly euthanasia which is the equivalent to voluntary physician assisted suicide. Social workers have to be prepared for questions from their clients on this option regardless of their feelings. I believe that it is hard to tell a client in the end-of-life stages to choose euthanasia or not. And it is important for all social workers to put any bias towards the situation to the side and empower their client to make their decision based on their own beliefs solely. This requires the ability to not put one’s own religious beliefs into their practice, avoid discriminating against the client’s reasons for choosing or not choosing this option based on their religious beliefs, or using their opinion that their client should or