Loss of Control

Loss of Control can become intensified by

Feelings of Helplessness

Patients may feel ill-prepared to manage the medications, medical appointments, diet, and physical activity changes they are experiencing.

Health social workers look for:

Patient gaps in managing their medical care.

The patient's gaps could be due to:

Limited health literacy.
Difficulty planning.
Difficulty understanding how to navigate the medical systems.

Examples of ways to aid are:

Creating Medication Charts.
Appointment Calendars.
Meal Planning.

Extended Hospitalizations

With specific diagnoses, patients may stay in the hospital for an extended period and/or have frequent hospitalizations. These hospitalizations often disrupts the patient's life.

The goal with our patients is

to decrease the disruptions in their lives.

Ways to decrease disruptions to a patient's life are:

Working on discharge planning needs.
Planned follow-up appointments.
Collaborate with outside agencies such as work or school.

Uncertainty of Prognosis

Certain diseases do not have a cure, so patients' health will continue to decline. The unpredictable nature of such an illness can create a heightened sense of anxiety.

The health social workers role is to aid patients to develop anxiety coping skills.

Some examples of techniques we can use with patients are:

Guided meditation techniques.
Distress tolerance techniques.
Stress reduction Activities - art, music, physical outings or yoga activities.

Poor Communication

Communication breakdowns between patients and their doctors can be caused by:

Conflicting information.
Rushed conversations.
Different communication styles.
Lack of consideration of cultural values (Anderson et al., 2008; Downar et al., 2020).

Health social workers can:

Identify the gaps in health literacy.
Identify lack of cultural considerations by the medical providers.
Address language barriers.
Advocate for culturally appropriate interventions.
Help patients create interventions such as:
- A list of questions to ask providers.
- Advocate for providers to clarify conflicting information.
- Request family meetings with the providers and consultants.

Loss of Income