Behind a Patient

Behind a Patient: Social Work at the Intersection of Medicine, Family, and Community is a work on medical social work in the context of contemporary Vietnam. The book begins with a fundamental question: why, amid increasingly advanced medicine, do many patients still leave the clinic without truly being seen as whole human beings? Minh Hung / Nguy?n Ðông Hung approaches patients not only through symptoms, tests, prescriptions, or hospital fees, but through the entire life behind illness: family, work, income, housing, caregivers, fear, belief, loneliness, and the risk of being left behind after treatment. Drawing from the foundational thought of Richard C. Cabot, Mary E. Richmond, and the principles of social medicine, the book shows that medical social work is not a secondary charitable activity, but an essential part of a humane healthcare system. The book systematically presents key topics: medical-social diagnosis, life history taking, economic assessment, psychological assessment, case management, social treatment, support for poor patients, professional ethics, health communication, post-discharge care, and the role of family, hospitals, primary care, and community in the healing process. This book is suitable for social work students, hospital social workers, healthcare professionals, hospital administrators, volunteers, patient caregivers, and anyone interested in building a more humane healthcare system. It reminds us that behind a patient there is not only a disease, but a life that needs to be heard, supported, and respected.