Bridging the Gap: Staff Awareness and Utilization of Social Work Professionals in Government Teaching Hospital in Obio/Akpor LGA, Rivers State

This study investigated the level of staff awareness on the presence of social work professionals in the hospital; a case study of government teaching hospitals in Obia/Akpor Local Government area, Rivers State. The objective of the paper is to identify staff awareness on the presence of social work professionals in the hospital. Primary source of data was generated through self- administered questionnaires. The population of the study was 800medical staffs, while the sample size of 267 was determined using the Taro Yamane’s formula for sample size determination. The study involved different cadres of hospital staff including; clinicians, nurses, radiologists, dental officers and hospital nutritionist. The result show that all the items indicate that the staffs are aware of the presences of social workers in the hospital. This is true since the mean values are above the benchmark of 2.5, meaning that most of the respondents were on the agree range of the scale. But the first item on the table ‘We have sufficient number of social works to handle our patients in the hospital’ (M=1.97; SD=1.35538) shows an indication that there insufficient number of social workers in the hospital. Thus it is clear that medical staffs are aware of the presents of social workers in the hospital, are aware that the social work is a department of its own, knows the location of social work. It was recommended among others that the Government should employ more hospital social workers so that they can be able to meet the demand of their services to patients and clients at the hospital.