Edith Abbott Was Right: Designing Fieldwork Experiences for Contemporary Health Care Practice

Successful social work practice in the contemporary, economically driven, health care environment demands unprecedented levels of technical competence, initiative, creativity and conceptual sophistication. Fieldwork plays a critical role in social work education for such demanding practice by providing interns initial opportunities to apply their newly acquired knowledge, skills and abilities. This article discusses the contribution of fieldwork to the preparation of social work practitioners and presents two programs that may serve as alternative models of fieldwork. Observations of the impact of these models, including a summary of two evaluations of one model are presented. We contend that a fieldwork structure using rotations may increase the value of fieldwork for students both academically and in the employment process. Correct citation for final version of manuscript is: Spitzer, W., Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (2001). Edith Abbott was right: Designing fieldwork experiences for contemporary health care practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 37, 79-90