Leveraging COVID-19 Experiences to Prepare for the Future: A Pilot Study with Hospital Social Workers.

This article focuses on how hospital social workers transformed their practice during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet the evolving needs of patients, caregivers, and interdisciplinary teams at a New England tertiary adult medical center. Using the social ecological model (SEM), which considers multiple levels of social influence from individual to societal, the study identified four key themes: transformative practice and learning, changing social work roles, awareness of social justice contexts, and adaptation to telehealth. Social workers expanded their clinical approaches, embraced telehealth despite limited training, and addressed heightened social inequities exacerbated by the pandemic, including systemic racism and digital access barriers. The findings highlight the critical role of hospital social workers in interdisciplinary care during crises and suggest that integrating ecological frameworks and telehealth innovations can enhance future social work practice and healthcare delivery.