Similarities Between Social Work and Speech-Language Pathology
Social work and speech-language pathology may seem to be two unrelated fields; however, these areas have four shared features. Firstly, in both cases, professionals in these disciplines often have to work with people from various population groups. For example, speech-language pathologists may work with children from affluent families and incarcerated teenagers (Snow, 2019). Social workers frequently face low-income and unemployed individuals who need support (Payne, 2020). Secondly, since both fields work with people who belong to vulnerable population groups, their clients may have one or several comorbidities in addition to the original problem (Snow, 2019). Thirdly, it may be challenging for these individuals to adapt to a new environment, resulting in conflicts with other people (Schraeder & Seidel, 2020). Thus, social workers and speech-language pathologists should have superior abilities in conflict resolution. Lastly, both disciplines demand the implementation of an integrative approach to help people with a wide range of issues (Specht & Vickery, 2021). Overall, these two fields have many common features because, in both cases, the work is conducted with vulnerable groups.
Differences Between Social Work and Speech-Language Pathology
The workers in both fields face various groups in their practice. However, social workers primarily work with individuals, families, and communities that are poor, unemployed, and mentally ill (Payne, 2020). On the other hand, speech-language pathologists may work with children from households with various incomes because this issue may appear in any family. Another difference is that speech pathologists can implement telemedicine to communicate and help patients in different parts of the country (Fong et al., 2021). In contrast, social work often requires the professional to be present at the intervention site.
The Importance of Teamwork in Healthcare
Collaboration between different professionals in healthcare is a critical topic in clinical practice and research because the quality of interaction between various team members determines patient outcomes. Any hospital visit by a sick individual requires the involvement of doctors, nurses, administrators, social workers, and families to ensure that all aspects of one’s disease and health are correctly addressed (Rosen et al., 2018). If healthcare workers’ tasks are not adequately distributed, the consequences may be disastrous. For example, according to Rosen et al. (2018), more than 250,000 preventable deaths occur in American hospitals annually. This situation results from the fact that communication between clinicians is not well-established, causing ineffective coordination of patient diagnostics and treatment (Rosen et al., 2018). Therefore, the multidisciplinary composition of healthcare teams and wise external leadership are the two crucial elements of better health outcomes.
References
Fong, R., Tsai, C. F., & Yiu, O. Y. (2021). The implementation of telepractice in speech-language pathology in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic.Telemedicine and E- Health, 27(1), 30-38. Web.
Payne, M. (2020). The origins of social work: Continuity and change. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. The American Psychologist, 73(4), 433– 450.
Schraeder, T., & Seidel, C. (2020). A guide to school services in speech- language pathology. Plural Publishing.
Snow, P. C. (2019). Speech-language pathology and the youth offender: Epidemiological overview and roadmap for future speech- language pathology research and scope of practice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 50(2), 324-339.
Specht, H., & Vickery, A. (Eds.). (2021). Integrating social work methods. Routledge.