News Archive
Practice
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Registered nurses looking to advance their careers and gain more autonomy may find a rewarding path in the Master of Science in Nursing program.
Of the many challenges the U.S. health care system faces, perhaps the most onerous of all is that of unbalanced provider-to-patient ratios, which can lead to patient flow bottlenecks and suboptimal health outcomes. With too many patients and too few physicians, the health care system has increasingly relied upon nurse practitioners, who have come to occupy an invaluable role within the medical ecosystem.
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Patients and their families rely on medical social workers to help them navigate life’s most challenging moments.
Though often not given the attention they’re due, medical social workers serve an exceptionally critical function in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Leveraging classroom skills and on-the-job training, medical social workers navigate the U.S. health care system’s thorny political, social and bureaucratic challenges to help patients and their families achieve optimal outcomes.
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The social stigma surrounding mental health can complicate treatment and negatively impact outcomes — particularly when it comes to men. What can social workers do to overcome this hurdle?
Mental health isn’t often thought of as a “men’s health” issue in particular, although it probably should be. The stigma surrounding mental health is particularly strong for men, and as a result, they are more likely than women to go undiagnosed or untreated for mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.
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The Department of Nursing at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has earned a prestigious national accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), an accrediting agency of the U.S. Department of Education.
The five-year accreditation, the maximum duration for a first-time applicant, comes just weeks after the school graduated its first three Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) students in May.
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May is Employee Health and Fitness Month. With employees across the globe spending nearly one-third of their lives at work, how can organizations heed the call of wellness in the workplace?
Workplace wellness initiatives have become a hot topic in recent years — but if you ask John Gaspari, LCSW, director of the USC Center for Work & Family Life (CWFL) and an alumnus of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, this movement has been many years in the making.
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For nearly 100 days, Patrisse Khan-Cullors could not find her older brother. She and her family called the sheriff’s department every day, and were told he had been arrested, but no one could locate him.
Khan-Cullors explained that her brother had been “disappeared”: a practice in law enforcement, some allege, of taking someone into custody and having them vanish within the system.
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Mobilizing broad social change requires a community-focused, systemic approach—and a healthy dose of tenacity.
The skills gained by Master of Social Work (MSW) candidates in the classroom can translate to a wide range of career opportunities: from micro-level, client-focused care to broader policy work. Those interested in putting a diverse skill set into practice and working directly with communities to affect large-scale change may consider the possibilities of community organizing.
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The Telehealth online clinic at USC offers mental health services to youth struggling with trauma and substance abuse throughout California. During Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, May 7 - 13, it is important to discuss why access to mental health services for children and adolescents matters and how it can play a critical role in their overall development.
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Even with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many Americans remain uninsured or underinsured. The ACA's goals were to make health care insurance more affordable and accessible, to expand the Medicaid program and to support models designed to lower the costs of health care.
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Two USC professors argue that tackling health care issues from the crossroads of social work and nursing can help us better understand their sociocultural causes—and deploy new, more effective solutions for addressing them.