Discretion in Direct Practice: New Perspectives (Commentary) (Report‪)‬

The study of clinical decision making in social work has focused on various areas over the years, such as diagnosis, treatment planning, crisis intervention, and evidence-based practice. Major concerns over accountability and legal liability have recently caused the study of clinical decision making to focus almost solely on ethical situations. Although important, these developments have, unfortunately, led to the neglect of the study of more common kinds of clinical judgment, despite the fact that authors have indicated that major ethical decision making occupies only a small percentage of most practitioners' time (Vinzant & Crothers, 1998). Therefore, it would seem important to reexamine aspects of typical everyday decision making in direct practice. This article examines one such aspect, that of practitioner discretion, which has lately drawn attention in social work for its importance in certain types of clinical decision making (Torczyner, 1991; Vinzant & Crothers, 1998). DISCRETION IN SOCIAL WORK