Abstract
Social workers interact with registered nurses, chaplains, and other team members in their work on the hospice interdisciplinary team. Teamwork is integral to the social worker’s role in working with the patients and families. Research has discovered that the nature of a hospice interdisciplinary team includes collaboration, interdependence, and role blurring. The purpose of this study is to examine the experience of different hospice team members and explore the role of social work on the hospice interdisciplinary team. A qualitative research design was chosen for this study. Ten professionals employed at hospice in Northern California were asked to participate in the study. The researcher developed and used an interview guide with ten open-ended questions. The interview data was coded and the following five themes emerged: communication, the medicalization of hospice, collaboration challenges, spiritual connection and teamwork, rewards from hospice teamwork. Implications for social work practice were discussed.