What Do Social Workers Ask If You’re Admitted To The Er For Almost Drinking Yourself To Death?
December 25th, 2009 by admin | Filed under social.I’m writing a novel, and I need to get my main character admitted to a psych ward. What kinds of questions would a social worker ask a patient who was brought to the ER almost comatose from alcohol poisoning?
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A psychiatric (or clinical) social worker would probably be listening and asking the patient after their stomach was pumped and they were in the recovery room. They would assess for reality-testing (mini mental status exam), suicide/self-harm, depression, psychosis, other substance abuse, social support. Admission nurses would have done some of this already. The LCSW in some states have the authority to decide about committing the patient on a 72-hr. involuntary hold for self-harm, (you can also be committed for harm to others, or by being gravely disabled, though the latter doesn’t happen much). A social worker would be part of discharge-planning, sharing community resources of course.
Not too many until the patient recovers, that’s for sure. The types of questions I think would be asked would be fairly basic. Name, address, employment, family situation, income, any history of psychiatric treatment, who can be contacted on behalf of the patient, name of doctor who normally treats the patient, and then I would think the questions would be along the lines of why the patient has reached this stage of desperation, how long the severe drinking problem has been going on and what if any measures have been taken to address the problem, bearing in mind that most people don’t consider they have a drinking problem even if they are at rock bottom.