Morgan got a bachelor’s from Antioch College and then took her master’s from the University of Cincinnati. She was then able to refer to herself as a social worker. She said her early work in the mental health field served her well when pursuing the master’s. After two years of post-master’s supervised training, she received the Licensed Independent Social Worker designation — the highest level.
Morgan is one of the five social workers who provide 24-hour coverage in the Emergency Trauma Department at Atrium Medical Center.
The team does assessments for the psychiatrists for the high number of people who present to the ER with a range of mental health issues.
Morgan said that she may get requests from physicians or from family members or from the patients themselves for an assessment.
Cases may involve attempted suicide, requests for treatment for drugs or alcoholism, domestic violence and even some substance abusers trying to get drugs by faking illness. Some are brought to the ER by family, by squad or by the police.
“I go back through the computer and pull up any history,” she said. “Has she been here? How often does she come to the ED? Has she been admitted? We have an assessment tool that we enter into EPIC (computerized records). It’s like six pages.”
“(Some) will come on a later shift to try and get a different doctor and it’s always an injury that you can’t see,” she said. “We ask about their pain and they rate it 10 out of 10 but they are eating a turkey sandwich or watching a Bonanza rerun. We still have to treat them with respect and that is a difficult line to walk.”
With the EPIC system, social workers can also check to see if the patient has tried other EDs in the Premier network.
Morgan says she sees between six and 10 patients per 12-hour shift.
“Some patients take 15 to 20 minutes and others — most of them — take a couple of hours,” she explained.
For the legitimate cases, social workers will call the psychiatrist and process the admission through the doctor.
About the Author