Health Practice Tools

NASW continues active participation in the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Most recently, NASW (JCAHO) attended the fall meeting of Professional Technical Advisory Committees (PTACs), where volunteer leaders and staff participated in the following PTAC Breakout Sessions: Behavioral Health Care; Long Term Care/Assisted Living; and Home Care.

NASW continues to focus on enhancing the role, visibility, understanding, skill development, and advocacy of social workers in health care settings.

There are many reasons for hospital social workers to be aware of pending changes in the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare’s (JCAHO) survey and accreditation process, but perhaps the best of all can be summed up in the phrase: Shared Visions— New Pathways. This new survey accreditation process is a paradigm shift, from survey preparation to systems improvement.

The National Association of Social Workers recognizes the significant role and value of accreditation for the practice of social work in public and private child and family services and behavioral health organizations. National accreditation is vital to providing the infrastructure for the delivery of quality standards-based services in both public and private organizations throughout this country. 

The health and well-being of our young people and the adults they will develop to be, is critically affected by health behaviors adopted during adolescence, and the social context. The genesis of most health problems in adolescents are environmental and behavioral in nature, and social influences, good and bad, can foster, mitigate, or exacerbate immediate and long-term health consequences and conditions.