[Social Medicine and Interfaces in Sectoral Health Care Provision]

In addition to the consideration of individual medicine, social medicine focuses on the social references of health and sickness. In this context, it reflects the structures of the entire health care system, its functions and its functional deficits. It deals with the specific interaction between medicine and society and functions such as a link to the classical social sciences (1). Of particular interest in this context are the interfaces to sectoral health care provision. The working group "Nursing Care" of the Department "Practical Social Medicine and Rehabilitation" of the German Society for Social Medicine and Prevention examines the fundamental interfaces in our sectoral health care system from the perspective of social medicine in their current functions and perspectives, particularly in view of the future demographic challenges to be faced. Of particular importance is the interface between medicinal and nursing care in the areas of acute inpatient and homecare as well as in the area of geriatric care, including preventive measures. The aim of this article is to start a discussion on this subject.