| Course | MSW 528 Medical Social Work I |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post |
| Length | About 400 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 528 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Initial Post
The Car in the Tow Lot: One Small Task That Lands on Hospital Social Work by Default, What Holding It Costs on a Stroke Unit and Where It Would Go Instead
The Task
H., 72, was brought to our hospital by ambulance after collapsing in a grocery store parking lot with a stroke. H.'s car was towed from the lot that evening. By day 3, the tow company was charging $45 a day in storage, and only the registered owner, in person or with a notarized letter, could release it. H. cannot walk yet. The nurse paged me: "Can social work handle the car?"
Owned by Training or by Default
Nothing in my training is about tow lots. The task came to social work because no one else's job description reaches it. Hospital social work has long carried tasks of this kind, and surveys of hospital social workers find discharge planning dominates the role, with much of the remaining time spent on practical problems no one else claims (Judd & Sheffield, 2010). The car is ours by default.
What Holding It Costs
It took me 70 minutes over two days: calls to the tow company, finding a notary who would come to the unit, drafting the letter with H. and arranging for H.'s daughter to pick up the car. Those 70 minutes came from the assessment of another patient whose discharge was delayed a day. The cost is not only my time; it is the work it displaced.
Why It Still Matters
For H., the car was not trivial. It was H.'s way to get to appointments after discharge, and the fees would have reached $630 in two weeks on a fixed income. The professional standards for health care social work include addressing practical and financial barriers to care (National Association of Social Workers, 2016). So the task belongs to someone, and it bears on the patient's recovery.
Where It Would Go Instead
A patient navigator or a volunteer advocate trained in a short list of practical errands, car release, mail holds and utility calls, could hold this work, with social work stepping in when it touches family conflict or capacity. That would protect assessment time for what only social work is trained to do.
A Question for Replies
Which small task would you refuse, and to whom would you hand it?
References
Judd, R. G., & Sheffield, S. (2010). Hospital social work: Contemporary roles and professional activities. Social Work in Health Care, 49(9), 856-871. https://doi.org/10.1080/00981389.2010.499825
National Association of Social Workers. (2016). NASW standards for social work practice in health care settings. National Association of Social Workers.
The Chamberlain MSW 528 Week 1 instructions
The first discussion asks you to name one small, real task that falls to social work in a medical setting and argue about who should own it. Pick something concrete: a wallet in the hospital safe, a utility that will speak only to the account holder, a car in a tow lot. Avoid the roster answer that lists what each profession does. Say whether the task belongs to social work because of training or because nobody else's job reaches it. Count what holding it costs, in time and in work it displaces. Explain why it matters to the patient. Then say where the task would go instead and what social work would keep. Replies should refuse something, naming a task the classmate could hand off.
How this MSW 528 Week 1 example is built
The task is the release of H.'s car, towed after a stroke in a parking lot and costing $45 a day, which only the owner could release in person or by notarized letter. The ownership section concludes the task is social work's by default and cites Judd and Sheffield (2010) on discharge planning dominating the role. The cost section counts 70 minutes over two days and a delayed discharge for another patient. A section on why it matters links the car to post-discharge appointments and a fixed income, pointing to the profession's 2016 health care practice standards. The final section proposes a navigator or trained volunteer for practical errands, with social work stepping in for conflict or capacity, and asks classmates what they would refuse.
MSW 528 Week 1 rubric: what full points look like
Faculty meet the roster answer constantly, and it earns little because it lists job titles and leaves ownership where it was. Nearly as costly is a task named at the size of a category, such as advocacy or emotional support, which cannot be argued about. Credit goes to one concrete task, a clear position on whether it is owned by training or by default, an honest count of what it costs and a proposal for where it would go. Showing why the task matters to the patient prevents the argument from dismissing it. A source or two on the role, in APA form, supports the claim. Replies are graded on refusing something specific.
MSW 528 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost points
The commonest loss is describing the whole hospital team's roles without ever picking a task. Another is choosing a large abstraction, emotional support or discharge planning, which leaves nothing to weigh. Some posts argue a task is beneath social work without asking what it means to the patient. Others never say who should take it instead. When your placement hands you a different errand, perhaps a pet left at home or an unpaid utility bill, run the same steps: the task, its owner by training or default, its cost, its meaning and its better home. Writing that post well means naming the exact minutes the task took and what waited while you did it.
Get a MSW-528 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 1 instructions with whatever your section publishes about length and replies, and a custom post written to them comes back inside 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. Say how many replies are expected and they arrive alongside it, each built to move a classmate's task somewhere rather than to endorse it.
More MSW 528 papers and MSW samples
- MSW 528 Week 2: Psychosocial Assessment
- MSW 528 Week 3: Rounds Participation Write-up
- MSW 528 Week 4: Discharge Plan Draft
- MSW 528 Week 5: Benefits Eligibility Write-up
- MSW 528 Week 6: Insurance Authorization Appeal
- MSW 528 Week 7: Safe Discharge Case Analysis
- MSW 528 Week 8: Hospital Practice Reflection
- MSW 529 Week 1: Discussion Post
- MSW 526 Week 1: Mindfulness Practice and Promise Post
- MSW 525 Week 1: Component Mismatch Post
- MSW 524 Week 1: What Counts as Trauma Post
MSW 528 Week 1 questions, answered
What if my section names the task for us?
Then the choosing is done and the whole post is the ownership argument, which is where the points sat anyway. Take the task as given, state the standard you are measuring it against, and spend the space on the boundary rather than on describing the task. Sections that supply one usually supply the same one to everybody, so the reasoning is all that distinguishes your post.
Is there a correct answer about what the role owns?
No, and sections that mark this well reward the line being drawn and defended rather than drawn in a particular place. A post arguing the task belongs here scores the same as one arguing it does not, provided both name a standard and accept the consequence. What loses is refusing to draw a line at all and calling that holistic practice.
Can I argue the task should not be done by anyone?
Yes, and few openings score better in a first week, provided you also say what becomes of the patient once nobody does it. Some tasks a hospital generates exist because a system elsewhere failed, and naming that is legitimate analysis. What weakens it is stopping at the criticism without saying who is left holding the consequence on Thursday afternoon.
Where can I find a free MSW 528 Week 1 sample paper?
The full MSW 528 Week 1 post on who should release a stroke patient's towed car is on this page, followed by margin notes on ownership and cost.
Who does the MSW 528 Week 1 sample say should hold the task?
A patient navigator or trained volunteer for practical errands, with social work stepping in only when the task touches family conflict or decision-making capacity.