[Theories of Social Work and Geriatrics]

Medical practitioners commonly do not have much knowledge of the professional side of social workers, even those that work together in a geriatric team. The current article aims to further this knowledge and to show that the potentials of social work support may exceed administration, as well as in the consultation of patients by so-called social workers in hospitals. These potentials are not empirically reasoned, instead social pedagogic theories are used for support of this argument. Three theories will be introduced as examples and furthermore, the possible meaning this has for geriatric medicine will be explained by means of a case example.