Communicating with pediatricians: developing social work practice in primary care

Abstract

While social work models of interdisciplinary collaboration suggest that communication is important, the research literature on social worker-physician collaboration infrequently considers work with pediatricians or practice outside the hospital setting. A cross-sectional survey was sent to a stratified random sample of social workers to assess their communication satisfaction with pediatricians. The study found that social workers in health settings were more satisfied than those in mental health settings. The implications of this finding for the development of colocated, collaborative care models are discussed.