Press-citizen.com
A University of Iowa survey of 1,071 nursing homes shows that only half of nursing home social workers have a degree in social work while 20 percent do not have a four-year degree.
Despite their desire to learn, two-thirds of nursing home social workers report they do not belong to a professional organization that helps to keep them up to date on nursing home social work issues, and only 38 percent are licensed in social work, according to the survey. For-profit nursing homes are 31 percent less likely to hire a degreed social worker, it said.
The numbers are concerning, given the important responsibilities nursing home social workers have, said Mercedes Bern-Klug, an assistant professor of social work in UI’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who led the study.
The analysis of laws on nursing home social worker qualifications was published in the fall issue of the Journal of Gerontological Social Work. Results of the national survey will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of American Medical Directors Association.
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