M. Ringler et al., Psychotherapeutic resources in the general hospital of Vienna - A representative empirical survey, PSY PSY MED, 51(5), 2001, pp. 219-226
Since 1993 the Austrian Federal-Hospital-Law demands the guarantee of adequ
ate psychotherapeutic and clinical psychological care in Austrian hospitals
. The target of the present survey was to explore the extent of realisation
of this demand concerning the psychotherapeutic care in the General Hospit
al of Vienna (AKH). 125 of the 128 employees with psychotherapeutic qualifi
cations were interviewed. The considerable number of psychotherapeutically
qualified employees cannot obscure the fact that inadequate structural prec
onditions impede a satisfying care. These are: most of the interviewed pers
ons have been employed because of other vocational qualifications (medical
doctors, psychologists etc.). Therefore they can only use a very limited pa
rt of their worktime on psychotherapeutic interventions. Deficits of spatia
l and temporal resources could be detected as well as unclear vocational ch
aracteristics and qualification requirements. These deficits point out the
necessity of developing professionally founded organisation structures, whi
ch enable well aimed networking and an optimal usage of resources.