A new blog surfing website…
So, I always look at my blog stats page. It’s part of my blogging obsession…trying to figure out how many hits my blog has had on a given day and where those hits have come from.
So, I see some of my hits have come from condron. I wasn’t sure what the heck it was, so I clicked on it. It’s pretty interesting actually. Apparently, they connect to wordpress and blogspot blogs randomly, then they flip through them on their website. So, you can just go there and watch the different blogs flip by. It’s fast but not so fast that you can’t stop it to check out a blog you might find interesting. I guess it’s just one more thing for me to waste time on.
A great day!
We had a great day today…so nice to have a day off! We went over and spent the day at the aquarium on the coast. I was a little concerned as we had to wait in line for 45 minutes to get in. However, once we were inside, it didn’t seem busy at all.
The boys loved it! The were so excited to see the sharks in the “Passages of the Deep” exhibit. They loved watching the seals and sea lions. They loved the sea otter. Since the last time we had visited, they have added a touch pool with rays and small sharks of some sort. They were so excited to get to touch the sharks and rays. They also went to the traditional touch pool with anenomes and star fish.
All in all it was a really great day…a little cold but no rain!
A day off!
Tomorrow is a day off for me! I have one scheduled day off each month, a day off leading up to the weekend I have to work. I’m hoping tomorrow will be enjoyable. My parents are coming over and, since it’s Spring Break, we’ll head over to spend the day at the coast. We’ll go to the Hatfield Marine Science Center and possibly to the Sea Lion Caves. I’m hoping we may even get a little sun…or at least not too much rain.
Communication
Today, I thought a lot about communication and how important it is. Also, how much I take my ability to communicate in a relatively easy manner for granted. I am working with a patient right now that has many, many emotional issues to work through. My struggle right now is the fact that this patient’s medical condition makes it virtually impossible to communicate more than one word at a time, either spoken or in writing. I am going over and over in my head, how do you help someone therapeutically address some of their big fears and concerns when they literally can’t get the words out. And the sense of empathy I feel for this patient…they are totally aware but essentially able to communicate all that they are feeling to anyone.
I always feel like part of my job as a social worker is to help people find a way to do their “jobs.” I really get the sense that this patient’s “job” is to get ready to make that biggest transition of all and I’m not sure how I’m going help them do it. And certainly this is not the first time I’ve faced a communication barrier in my work, there are any number of them in the hospital setting. But, this barrier is probably the biggest I’ve faced and in a situation where it really seems critical for it to be overcome.
The D’s Speech
I’m trying to decide what to do about this. At this point, I’m going to make an appointment with the pediatrician, I think. I’ve mentioned this before, but since about June 2008, or so, the D has had some speech issues. He wasn’t a huge talker, but he had slowly improved from time he was 2 1/2 until June 2008. Then, he started stuttering. Since that time, he has gone through periods where his speech is totally fine, to periods of severe stuttering, to periods where it just seems like the word or words are “stuck” in his throat.
Of course, I have some guilt (probably misplaced) because this all basically started when I went back to work. Of course, as a mother, I directly attributed him having speech problems with me “abandoning” him for the world of paid work. I don’t know if there is any basis to this, but when I keep going over the child abuse brochure we have in the office, and speech problems are listed as a warning sign, it’s hard not to. Not that I’m abusing my child, but maybe me going back to work was traumatic for him.
So, here’s my dilemma. If I set up an appointment to see a speech therapist, and he’s in a period where he’s doing fine…then what? And what is he’s in a period where he’s having a lot of trouble…is that good or bad? As a social worker, I am well aware that labels have a tendency to really stick. As a mother, I want to make sure any problems are addressed so he can have as successful of a life as possible.
So, that settles it! I’m going to make an appointment with the pediatrician and put off making a decision for a little while longer.
Wow!
I am amazed! I have had more than 5,000 hits on this blog! Granted it took one year for me to reach this number, but I honestly didn’t think that I would reach this number in 10 years. It’s actually kind of exciting. I guess that’s why this blogging thing can get kind of addictive…To all my regular readers…thank you! Thank you for your great comments! And to any new readers…stick with me…I’m still trying to improve!
Scrutiny
This is what I felt today…scrutiny! Today was the first day that I was really openly challenged about my professional judgement. I don’t want to give many details about the situation because it wouldn’t take many for someone to figure out who I’m talking about. Basically I had a complicated case dealing with a younger patient and their family and how that family would take care of this patient.
I met with the patient and their family. I made contacts with providers for this patient out in the community. Those providers even came to the hospital to meet with this patient. I made connects with new providers for this patient. All the providers had agreed to provide their services to the patient in their home so as to limit the amount of stress on the patient.
Multiple providers, both within our hospital system and out in the community, attested to the competence of this family in caring for the patient’s needs. They also had no concerns that the family would be unable to recognize troubling symptoms and they felt the family would respond to those troubling symptoms in speedy fashion.
So, with all of these arrangements made, I put my “figurative” stamp of approval on this patient going home. Holy Lord! You would think I was suggesting that this patient should just go back to their abode, on their own, and follow up with their providers when they felt it was needed. And as I continually tried to explain the plan and what services would be in place, I would get comments like, “Well, the patient said this.” or “The patient said that.” When I confronted them with, “Why isn’t this documented somewhere in the chart? If this is something that truly happened, it would raise my level of concern. However, if you don’t want to take responsibility for hearing this by documenting it then I don’t want to take responsibility for passing it on in case it’s not true or didn’t actually happen.” And having talked to the patient, I doubt the statements were made.
It was so frustrating to spend so much energy and time in arranging for this plan of care, and to have felt that I really sewed the whole thing up for a safe discharge for everyone involved (or as safe as any discharge can be), only to be told that it was the absolutely wrong thing to do. My supervisor ended up involved, at my request. She approved of the plan. But, in the end, I know I am going to have tread lightly in the coming days since I still have to work with the folks on that unit…but still that frustration will linger.
World Social Work Day!
After visiting the blog, Fighting Monsters, I realized/learned that today is World Social Work Day. I didn’t know this. I’m fairly exhausted after a long day of particularly difficult work but I do want to wish myself and all the other social workers out there a Happy World Social Work Day! I’m actually glad I’m a social worker and find my work meaningful and a privilege! I hope other social workers feel the same!
People aren’t perfect….
and neither are their home situations. I’ve had a number of situations today where this is what it boils down to. People aren’t perfect and their homes are less than ideal situations. And this doesn’t mean that every situation requires involvement with some outside agency or even other family members. It is difficult for some staff members to understand that there is only so much that can be done, only so many services available to any given person. And many times the situation is actually pretty functional, certainly not perfect, but functional. And I can’t make any situation perfect.
I don’t understand the child protective system…
March 17, 2009, 2:11 am
Filed under:
Child Protective Services,
MSW,
child abuse,
child neglect,
hospital social work,
pediatrics,
social work,
social work ethics,
worries | Tags:
CPS,
impaired caregiver,
methI just thought I should start this whole post with this statement, because that’s honestly how I feel, not having worked in that system before. My only involvement with this system has been as a mandatory reporter. And after my most recent experience with the CPS, I think I understand it even less.
We had a baby born testing positive for meth and it was confirmed with the legal toxi screen. Mom admitted to using meth recently but reported it as just a “stupid slip up.” However, when I went in to tell Mom that CPS was on the way, I took one look at her and my heart sunk. I don’t know if I could have had a Hollywood make-up artist create a more stereotypical meth user than this mom. Mom spent almost no time with her baby. Baby had to stay in the nursery as it was withdrawing and having some issues because of that.
To make a long story short, in spite of many long conversations with the CPS worker (myself and the pediatrician), the baby was sent home with mom. Up until this time I had always assumed that if a baby tested positive for meth on a legal screen, it would always be removed from the parent. I was told this was only the case if it is proven that the parents have a long term problem, otherwise they take the parent at their word that they had a slip up. I know that CPS will follow this baby and I know I have done my due diligence, but it was just very sad and scary to see that baby go home.
