Social Work Records:  by Jill Doner Kagle, Sandra  Kopels
309 pages, $43.95 list
1-57766-546-5
978-1-57766-546-5
eBook availability
Social Work Records
Third Edition
The latest edition of Social Work Records describes an approach to recordkeeping that is well-suited to contemporary practice. The authors encourage practitioners to seek a balance among accountability, supporting and improving practice, efficiency, and client privacy in selecting and organizing information in their records. They propose guidelines for improving agency-wide policies and procedures and include new material on demonstrating cultural competence, systematic assessment, managed care, computerization, and record security. The process of recording, as well as the record itself, are described and illustrated in ways that fit the realities of today’s practice.

Social Work Records is a single source that: introduces the 15 principles of good records and their usefulness to assess the quality, appropriateness, and impact of services; presents an overview of the content of social work records using the Service-Centered Record format; focuses on the structure of the record by describing and analyzing a wide range of approaches, formats, and forms that are used to select and organize information; offers solutions to issues in practice from both the direct-service and the administrative perspective; provides a thorough analysis of records and the law.
Reactions
“I love this book. The content is very practical and it continues to be one of the best books to introduce social work students to documentation and recording.” — Tina Peterson, University of Oklahoma

“This book is timeless. It provides a comprehensive view of the importance of social work records.”— Brenda Lindsey, University of Illinois
Table of Contents
Introduction

1. The Principles, Functions, and History of Records
Fifteen Principles of Good Records / A Brief History of Social Work Recording / Contemporary Issues / Recording and Professional Judgment

2. Service-Centered Recording
The Service-Centered Record / Elements of Content / What Should Be Excluded from Records

3. Records Used in Social Work Education
Process Recording / The Teaching/Learning (T/L) Record / Essential Recording / Improving Education for Recordkeeping

4. The Structure of Records I: Narrative and Other Clinical Records
Narrative Reports / The Problem-Oriented Record / Monitoring Movement / Goal Attainment Scaling

5. The Structure of Records II: Forms
Creating Forms / Examples of Forms

6. Practice Issues
The Quality of Records / Benefits of the Recording Process / Records That Clients Prepare / Recordkeeping in Private Practice / Records and Managed Care / Practice Guidelines

7. Administrative Issues
The Cost of Recordkeeping / The Security of Records / Computers and Records / Records in Research

8. Records and the Law
Basic Privacy Principles / A Brief History of Federal Privacy and Records Legislation / Important Federal Laws Related to Social Work Records / HIPAA and Its Relationship to State Laws / HIPAA, State Law, and the Records of Specific Client Populations

9. Records and the Courts
Why Records Would Be Used in Court / Subpoenas / Defining the Record under the Subpoena / Personal Notes / Privilege / Responses to Requests for Records / Retention of Records / Expungement of Records