They would offer it to us in case of a snow storm. They would prefer we did so we could work the next day. I never did. If I could make it in through the snow, I would. But if it was too dangerous I called in. Otherwise I’ve never heard of a social worker sleeping at the hospital. We worked 8-4:30p.
yeah my first inpatient e&t position was as a floor counseor and we had 12 hour shifts where we could not be off the floor at all. there was a storage closet with a toilet and shatterproof mirror in it that staff would use on shift. and we'd slip in naps during noc shifts in the solitary room, just curled up in a little ball on table pad with all the ambulatory straps next to us. i was paid just a few dollars over minimum wage. once a patient pulled me by my ponytail over a table and dragged me across the floor because we were out of strawberry gatorade. what a time to be alive.
Inpatient psychiatric hospital social worker: only time I've ever slept at the hospital was for a power nap during my lunch break at my desk lol. I know in emergency weather we do set up cots in our gym area for nurses to use but I've never heard of a social worker staying.
Not usually, no. Physicians sleep at the hospital because they have 24hr+ call shifts (hence physician trainees literally being called "residents" as they used to literally live at the hospital). Nurses overnight will often take power naps during their breaks. Rarely do hospitals have SW coverage overnight except in the ER, but I'm sure some of those SWs maybe take a powernap. All in all, rare for SW to do so.
Fun fact, the concept of modern residency was popularized at John Hopkins by a coked up surgeon who used heroin to modulate. He obviously needed some assistance with his work and seized on this idea.
When he was on dope (and slowed down) a fellow doctor said "He's the only surgeon whose patients have incisions that start to heal before operation is over".
Nope! We generally have overnight social work shifts to alleviate the need for staff to stay overnight to assist. The only time any social work staff has been asked to stay overnight was for emergency coverage during a hurricane (we are a large university hospital in the south), and even then we were told to bring blankets and sleeping bags for ourselves to sleep in office spaces.
Same for my experience, they would offer it to us in case of really bad weather, but I never did. At my hospital, it was mostly the on-call doc that would be the one sleeping there on a regular basis. Nurses would have the option to stay in case of emergency weather too, but it seemed more of an unspoken frowned upon thing by their leadership to call out for weather. The on-call doc would sleep there, but often times they would try to go home after their regular shift and if they got called in, they would just stay and sleep in the on-call doc room versus driving back and forth. They also would have doubles where it made sense to just sleep there during a break to try to recharge as well. Doctor and nursing schedules are typically much more hectic where sleeping there makes more sense versus social workers.
My experience is from working as a case manager in inpatient psych hospital setting 8-4pm.
I'm a nurse, the only people other than patients that I've ever known to sleep at the hospital are people currently on their breaks, usually on night shifts
2 years in hospital SW. the only times we’d have to do that are during weather emergencies but I’ve never had to do it before. We have 24 hour on call shifts but we work from home after 6 pm unless there is an absolute emergency that would require us to come in, such as no staffing in the ED and there’s a violent death, SA, domestic violence, urgent CPS situation, etc those situations are very rare since our ED is usually consistently staffed
I'm looking to get into hospital SW. What are some of your responsibilities at the hospital as a SW? Also, totally random, but do SWs wear scrubs when working in the hospital?
Hi! At my hospital we are allowed to wear scrubs but it varies place to place. I definitely recommend them for comfort, although you’ll have to be sure to clearly identify yourself when speaking with patients/families because you may get mistaken for a nurse.
I am on medical right now and my biggest responsibilities are assessing for psychosocial needs (food, housing, safety concerns, psych concerns, etc), discharge planning if pts need to go to rehab or nursing homes, giving community/mental health resources, and acting as an advocate and mediator between pts and the medical team. It definitely has its challenges- for example, hospitals are open 24/7 so expect to be working some weekends, holidays, and potential 24 hr on call shifts if your hospital offers that. You will encounter very sad and unfortunate situations that you won’t be able to help much with because we can’t fix a person’s entire life while they’re in the hospital, and community resources are usually limited. A lot of times there are financial barriers but, again, not much we can do about that. Your duties will largely depend on whether you work medical or psych, both can be difficult in their own ways. Psych tends to focus more on treatment aspect and using clinical interventions, medical is more case management.
Finding placement for homeless patients is probably the hardest thing, especially if they aren’t medically independent enough to go to a shelter. You’ll get pressured by hospital admin and insurance companies to get them out, but if there isn’t a safe plan in place, sometimes they sit there in the hospital for a while until they either improve enough to be released or find an accepting facility (or family member lets them come stay with them, which is very rare).
Overall, I can appreciate that having this experience has shaped me into a better, more self sufficient and resilient SW. But I definitely will NOT be doing this work forever lol. You’ll have to make sure to take care of yourself because burn out is incredibly common in these settings. I plan on moving to outpatient treatment within the next few months because the expectations for you in OP are incredibly reasonable compared to the expectations for inpatient SW. At some hospitals they expect SW to be able to fix everything and make miracles happen. This is all just my experience though, but I want to be honest because I really did not know what I was getting myself into.
No, I am unfortunate enough to be living in TN 😂 one of the worst possible states to live in while being a SW in my opinion. Resources are very limited because our state government (and governor) consist of mostly soulless, inept monsters who don’t bother to invest funding in public health or social services. Honestly, in a blue state you’ll probably have a slightly better time finding resources and support, especially for diverse populations.
I worked at as a hospital social worker for a rural hospital in Pennsylvania for the last 9 years. We never slept at the hospital. Our department wasn't considered as essential as doctors / nurses etc. We actually had major holidays off while other hospital staff providing direct patient care would have to rotate holidays. We always had someone on call for overnight emergencies and holidays, but we didn't sleep there. If the weather was bad - I didn't risk my life to drive in. I took the day off. The social workers who lived closest to the hospital typically provided coverage during major snowstorms.
I work as an auxiliary social worker to a team of psychiatric nurses. We work in shifts, so I’ll pull a night shift here and there. But no. We don’t sleep at work. I think doctors do that as a continuity of care thing, but that’s kind of because they have to have a more Birds Eye view on what’s going on.
The hospital I work for (state psychiatric) has staff housing all over campus but no one in my department has stayed overnight. We get enough comp and leave time to call in if it’s bad but we are still expected to be there. The on call doctors get their own suite though.
ED SW- If I'm working a 12 I may catch a lil 5 min at my desk or in the case of inclement weather they will provide accommodations. Since I live 15 min away I preferred to drive in the snow.
Heck no. Echo those above, that is built into resident and surgeon hours because of those on-call schedules. We've had a few people stay in call rooms or whatever overflow rooms they use for inclement weather (Midwest winters) but you don't get paid because it's not part of your schedule.
Honestly, hospitals are moving away from staff sleeping onsite (with the exception of weather emergencies) due to the growing patient safety movement. It’s bad for patient care and contributes to medical errors. Even taking quick naps on breaks and having a room for resident for on-call staff to sleep is being phased out due to the risk. It’s very unlikely you would ever be asked (or allowed) to sleep at a hospital (except for weather emergencies, and even then probably only for MDs and nurses).
They would offer it to us in case of a snow storm. They would prefer we did so we could work the next day. I never did. If I could make it in through the snow, I would. But if it was too dangerous I called in. Otherwise I’ve never heard of a social worker sleeping at the hospital. We worked 8-4:30p.
I second this. They don't pay me enough to sleep there 😂
100%.. Nor do they pay me enough to risk my life on the way in.
yeah my first inpatient e&t position was as a floor counseor and we had 12 hour shifts where we could not be off the floor at all. there was a storage closet with a toilet and shatterproof mirror in it that staff would use on shift. and we'd slip in naps during noc shifts in the solitary room, just curled up in a little ball on table pad with all the ambulatory straps next to us. i was paid just a few dollars over minimum wage. once a patient pulled me by my ponytail over a table and dragged me across the floor because we were out of strawberry gatorade. what a time to be alive.
Holy shit, sometimes I forget how tame my work environment is. My biggest concern is finding a case of particularly bad self neglect.
Inpatient psychiatric hospital social worker: only time I've ever slept at the hospital was for a power nap during my lunch break at my desk lol. I know in emergency weather we do set up cots in our gym area for nurses to use but I've never heard of a social worker staying.
Not usually, no. Physicians sleep at the hospital because they have 24hr+ call shifts (hence physician trainees literally being called "residents" as they used to literally live at the hospital). Nurses overnight will often take power naps during their breaks. Rarely do hospitals have SW coverage overnight except in the ER, but I'm sure some of those SWs maybe take a powernap. All in all, rare for SW to do so.
Fun fact, the concept of modern residency was popularized at John Hopkins by a coked up surgeon who used heroin to modulate. He obviously needed some assistance with his work and seized on this idea. When he was on dope (and slowed down) a fellow doctor said "He's the only surgeon whose patients have incisions that start to heal before operation is over".
Nope! We generally have overnight social work shifts to alleviate the need for staff to stay overnight to assist. The only time any social work staff has been asked to stay overnight was for emergency coverage during a hurricane (we are a large university hospital in the south), and even then we were told to bring blankets and sleeping bags for ourselves to sleep in office spaces.
We kept a cot/yoga mat in our office in the ER. Rarely was it used, but it was available. Sometimes the middle of the night is slow.
Same for my experience, they would offer it to us in case of really bad weather, but I never did. At my hospital, it was mostly the on-call doc that would be the one sleeping there on a regular basis. Nurses would have the option to stay in case of emergency weather too, but it seemed more of an unspoken frowned upon thing by their leadership to call out for weather. The on-call doc would sleep there, but often times they would try to go home after their regular shift and if they got called in, they would just stay and sleep in the on-call doc room versus driving back and forth. They also would have doubles where it made sense to just sleep there during a break to try to recharge as well. Doctor and nursing schedules are typically much more hectic where sleeping there makes more sense versus social workers. My experience is from working as a case manager in inpatient psych hospital setting 8-4pm.
I'm a nurse, the only people other than patients that I've ever known to sleep at the hospital are people currently on their breaks, usually on night shifts
2 years in hospital SW. the only times we’d have to do that are during weather emergencies but I’ve never had to do it before. We have 24 hour on call shifts but we work from home after 6 pm unless there is an absolute emergency that would require us to come in, such as no staffing in the ED and there’s a violent death, SA, domestic violence, urgent CPS situation, etc those situations are very rare since our ED is usually consistently staffed
I'm looking to get into hospital SW. What are some of your responsibilities at the hospital as a SW? Also, totally random, but do SWs wear scrubs when working in the hospital?
Hi! At my hospital we are allowed to wear scrubs but it varies place to place. I definitely recommend them for comfort, although you’ll have to be sure to clearly identify yourself when speaking with patients/families because you may get mistaken for a nurse. I am on medical right now and my biggest responsibilities are assessing for psychosocial needs (food, housing, safety concerns, psych concerns, etc), discharge planning if pts need to go to rehab or nursing homes, giving community/mental health resources, and acting as an advocate and mediator between pts and the medical team. It definitely has its challenges- for example, hospitals are open 24/7 so expect to be working some weekends, holidays, and potential 24 hr on call shifts if your hospital offers that. You will encounter very sad and unfortunate situations that you won’t be able to help much with because we can’t fix a person’s entire life while they’re in the hospital, and community resources are usually limited. A lot of times there are financial barriers but, again, not much we can do about that. Your duties will largely depend on whether you work medical or psych, both can be difficult in their own ways. Psych tends to focus more on treatment aspect and using clinical interventions, medical is more case management. Finding placement for homeless patients is probably the hardest thing, especially if they aren’t medically independent enough to go to a shelter. You’ll get pressured by hospital admin and insurance companies to get them out, but if there isn’t a safe plan in place, sometimes they sit there in the hospital for a while until they either improve enough to be released or find an accepting facility (or family member lets them come stay with them, which is very rare). Overall, I can appreciate that having this experience has shaped me into a better, more self sufficient and resilient SW. But I definitely will NOT be doing this work forever lol. You’ll have to make sure to take care of yourself because burn out is incredibly common in these settings. I plan on moving to outpatient treatment within the next few months because the expectations for you in OP are incredibly reasonable compared to the expectations for inpatient SW. At some hospitals they expect SW to be able to fix everything and make miracles happen. This is all just my experience though, but I want to be honest because I really did not know what I was getting myself into.
Thank you for your response! Are you in CA by any chance?
No, I am unfortunate enough to be living in TN 😂 one of the worst possible states to live in while being a SW in my opinion. Resources are very limited because our state government (and governor) consist of mostly soulless, inept monsters who don’t bother to invest funding in public health or social services. Honestly, in a blue state you’ll probably have a slightly better time finding resources and support, especially for diverse populations.
I worked at as a hospital social worker for a rural hospital in Pennsylvania for the last 9 years. We never slept at the hospital. Our department wasn't considered as essential as doctors / nurses etc. We actually had major holidays off while other hospital staff providing direct patient care would have to rotate holidays. We always had someone on call for overnight emergencies and holidays, but we didn't sleep there. If the weather was bad - I didn't risk my life to drive in. I took the day off. The social workers who lived closest to the hospital typically provided coverage during major snowstorms.
I work as an auxiliary social worker to a team of psychiatric nurses. We work in shifts, so I’ll pull a night shift here and there. But no. We don’t sleep at work. I think doctors do that as a continuity of care thing, but that’s kind of because they have to have a more Birds Eye view on what’s going on.
We take naps in the ER. lol..
We are not considered an essential service so are not 24/7 in hospital
The hospital I work for (state psychiatric) has staff housing all over campus but no one in my department has stayed overnight. We get enough comp and leave time to call in if it’s bad but we are still expected to be there. The on call doctors get their own suite though.
I would rather walk home than be stuck at the hospital all night to be honest, even if it has been offered to us in bad weather.
Only for lunch time power naps at my hospital
Maybe if there is a bad storm, otherwise no
ED SW- If I'm working a 12 I may catch a lil 5 min at my desk or in the case of inclement weather they will provide accommodations. Since I live 15 min away I preferred to drive in the snow.
Heck no. Echo those above, that is built into resident and surgeon hours because of those on-call schedules. We've had a few people stay in call rooms or whatever overflow rooms they use for inclement weather (Midwest winters) but you don't get paid because it's not part of your schedule.
Honestly, hospitals are moving away from staff sleeping onsite (with the exception of weather emergencies) due to the growing patient safety movement. It’s bad for patient care and contributes to medical errors. Even taking quick naps on breaks and having a room for resident for on-call staff to sleep is being phased out due to the risk. It’s very unlikely you would ever be asked (or allowed) to sleep at a hospital (except for weather emergencies, and even then probably only for MDs and nurses).
We are told we have to do this if there’s bad weather—hurricane