The critical role of the specialized social worker as part of ED/hospital-based elder mistreatment response teams

ABSTRACT

The emergency department and hospital provide a unique and important opportunity to identify elder mistreatment and offer intervention. To help manage these complex cases, multi-disciplinary response teams have been launched. In developing these teams, it quickly became clear that social workers play a critical role in responding to elder mistreatment. Their unique skillset allows them to establish close connections with community resources, collaborate with various hospital stakeholders, support patients/families/caregivers through challenging situations, navigate the legal and protective systems, and balance patient safety and quality of life in disposition decision-making. The role of the social worker on these multi-faceted teams includes conducting a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment, helping to develop a safe discharge plan, and making appropriate referrals, among other responsibilities. Any institution considering developing a multi-disciplinary program should recognize the critical importance of social work.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder mistreatment
• multi-disciplinary team
• social work

Acknowledgments

Attendees at the September 28–29, 2022 meeting included authors of this manuscript. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of their colleagues.

The Vulnerable Elder Protection Team wishes to thank the New York Office of Victim Services (OVS), and the Vulnerable Elder Services, Protection and Advocacy Team (VESPA) wishes to thank the State of Colorado Office for Victims Programs (OVP).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2023.2255742

Notes

1. Please refer to the overview article introducing this special issue of the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, “ED/Hospital-Based Programs Responding to Elder Mistreatment: Developing Consensus about An Idea Whose Time has Come,” for more information about this meeting/consensus conference.

Additional information

Funding

VEPT is currently funded by the New York Office of Victim Services (#C11419GG) and supported by a Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging (K76 AG054866) from the National Institute on Aging. E-Shien “Iggy” Chang’s participation was supported by K01 AG081540 from the National Institute on Aging.