The Current Situation of Social Work Activities in Hospitals in Vietnam

Since the Prime Minister signed the decision approving the project 32/2010 on March, 25, 2010 “Development of Social Work Profession in Vietnam in the period of 2010 – 2020”, social work has strongly developed in many different areas including the medical field. Specifically, the Ministry of Health approved the project “Development of the Social Work profession in the health sector from 2011 through 2020” and the Circular 43/2015 on “The social work activities in the hospitals and the organizational form to perform the social work activities in hospitals”. These documents are fundamental to carry out social work activities in hospitals. However, this is a new field so the implementation of these activities is still difficult and lacks detailed supporting guidelines. This study was conducted to assess the status of the five main activities of social workers in hospitals regulated under Circular 43/2015, thereby providing solutions to improve the effectiveness of social work activities.