This book was written to fill a need for a basic text about medical social work. The material has specific reference to social work in the hospital organization, but much of it is applicable to social work within the broader context of health care.Any printed material now available on the subject is largely incidental and scattered reference. This book will be of great value to social workers, and to students in hospital administration, medicine, and nursing. It will also be of help to members of hospital boards and to hospital administrators who wish to establish or evaluate a social service department.Beginning with a background in the history of the hospital and social work, the book provides chapters on the role and function of a social service department in a hospital, on the staffing and administration of such a department, on the kinds of activity in which it engages, and on its place in the larger organization of which it is a part.