{"title":"Hospital social workers' use of heuristics and fast-and-frugal decision trees when prioritizing referrals: A qualitative interview study.","authors":"Joanne Hilder, Maree Petersen, Jill Wilson","doi":"10.1080/00981389.2026.2707928","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prioritizing referrals is a challenging and common task in hospital social work practice. However, it is not well understood what influences prioritization decisions. We drew on the psychosocial rationality model and fast-and-frugal decision trees to consider how Australian hospital social workers prioritize their referrals. In-depth interviews with 15 hospital social workers were completed. The qualitative analysis identified seven heuristics influencing decision-making: (1) imminent harm, (2) likelihood of death, (3) discharge status, (4) social workers' ability to help the patient, (5) risk factors, (6) protective factors, and (7) time needed to resolve the referral. Heuristics are simple to learn and provide assistance to social workers to enable them to make quick, transparent, and consistent prioritization decisions.</p>","PeriodicalId":47519,"journal":{"name":"Social Work in Health Care","volume":" ","pages":"443-458"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Work in Health Care","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00981389.2026.2707928","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/8/6 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SOCIAL WORK","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Prioritizing referrals is a challenging and common task in hospital social work practice. However, it is not well understood what influences prioritization decisions. We drew on the psychosocial rationality model and fast-and-frugal decision trees to consider how Australian hospital social workers prioritize their referrals. In-depth interviews with 15 hospital social workers were completed. The qualitative analysis identified seven heuristics influencing decision-making: (1) imminent harm, (2) likelihood of death, (3) discharge status, (4) social workers' ability to help the patient, (5) risk factors, (6) protective factors, and (7) time needed to resolve the referral. Heuristics are simple to learn and provide assistance to social workers to enable them to make quick, transparent, and consistent prioritization decisions.
期刊介绍：
Devoted to social work theory, practice, and administration in a wide variety of health care settings, this journal gives you the tools to improve your practice while keeping you up-to-date with the latest crucial information. Social Work in Health Care is edited by Gary Rosenberg, PhD, one of the most respected leaders in health social work. This creative, lively journal brings you the most important articles on research, leadership, clinical practice, management, education, collaborative relationships, social health policy, and ethical issues from the most respected experts in the field. The journal"s special issues comprehensively discuss a single pertinent health care theme.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
