Social workers are active in many areas of healthcare in the fields of prevention, care and rehabilitation. The primary-care facilities that are being developed also offer patients social- work assistance in the areas of crisis intervention, counselling, networking and referral. Social workers educate, support and motivate patients to self-help. They attempt to strengthen the family, neighbourhood and community-based network and advise patients in psychosocial issues. As one of the few interdisciplinary professions in the healthcare sector, above all they network and connect patients to the many levels of care, institutions and professional groups.

Course contents

• Legal background
• Healthcare terminology
• Paradigms of social and health professions
• Cooperation and interdisciplinary collaboration
• Task formulations of social work and indicators for social work
• Special aspects of social-environment history and social diagnostics
• Documentation and coding systems
• International examples of social work in primary care
• The home visit
• Social-environment primary care - community Care
  Case studies 

Didactics

• Lectures
• Case simulations in parallel small groups

Lecturers

Veronika Böhmer

Social worker, Dipl. healthcare and nursing, AKUTTeam Lower Austria specialist field social work; study nurse, inpatient and mobile care, hospital social work.

Hermann Eglseder

Social pedagogue, social worker; Associate Lecturer at St. Pölten UAS; hospital social work, people with psychosocial impairment, social work in primary-care facilities.

Sonja Geretschläger

Midwife, social worker; Kepler University Hospital Linz, primary-care centre / Health Centre Haslach, licensed midwife.

Heinz Novosad

Emergency paramedic, education scientist, social worker; chief Instructor emergency service Lower Austria, Lower Austria Regional Spokesman of the Austrian Forum Primary Care in the healthcare sector.

Christoph Redelsteiner

Social worker, health scientist, emergency paramedic - NKI, paramedic instructor; St. Pölten UAS Academic Director Master Social Work; Public health - healthcare research, rescue service and social services, social work in the healthcare sector, crisis intervention, scientific Head of the university course "Rescue Service Management" Danube University Krems.

Anahita Sharifgerami

Social worker, counselling and guidance for children and families, social worker in the Social Medical Centre Graz Liebenau and member of the planning team Primary Health Centre Liebenau.