Health care is a dynamic field, influenced by changes in<br>patient characteristics and needs, lifestyle, new technology, popular belief, social, and health policy, national and local economies, cost, competition and regulation.<br>Changes in the health care field directly affect the practice of social work in health care settings. As new<br>technologies for the diagnosis and treatment are developed, they impact the quality and duration of the lives of our patients. Social workers respond to these changing<br>care needs by modifying and expanding methods for providing services.<br>Social work in health care can be defined broadly as the professional continuum of services designed to help individuals, groups, and families improve or maintain<br>optimal functioning in relation to their health. Social work activities are focused on the biopsychosocial<br>components of health and/or mental health from a strengths-based perspective. Social work services are available to all patients and their families, particularly those at high risk such as the frail elderly, children or adults with chronic illnesses, victims of maltreatment, those with life altering illnesses or accidents, and patients who are uninsured or underinsured.
