Social Work Leadership for Patient Safety

Abstract

Social workers are rarely considered as key personnel in the field of patient safety. The clinical nature of many, if not most, errors means that it is much more likely that doctors, nurses and pharmacists are involved both in the errors themselves and in attempts to improve the quality and safety of care. Yet, despite best efforts around the world for the last two decades the overall rate of errors has not decreased. In this chapter I argue that there is great potential for social work leadership to improve the quality and safety of care for patients and clients, and in particular for vulnerable individuals and groups. One way of understanding this potential is through the lens of a social epidemiology of patient safety, which can then be linked to the competencies required by social workers in leading this new approach to patient/client safety and quality improvement. Drawing on evidence both from research and from patient safety inquiries around the world, I look at how the social context and status of patients contributes to errors, particularly of vulnerable individuals and groups, and the unique leadership role that social workers can take in preventing and responding to errors and adverse events.