New medical director at the Wels-Grieskirchen Clinic

The corona pandemic has brought a lot of attention to his field, says Rainer Gattringer. The infectious disease specialist and clinical microbiologist has been medical director at the Wels-Grieskirchen Clinic since July 1. He replaced Thomas Muhr, who retired after 35 years at the clinic. “The challenges in the healthcare system are manifold, but we are making adjustments where we can,” says the 52-year-old.

The Innviertel native has headed the Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the clinic since September 2018. In 2021, he was appointed to the medical directorate and deputy medical director. In his new position, he has two main tasks, says Gattringer: “to maintain the high level of services offered to patients and to ensure that employees enjoy working with us or coming to us.”

“Pragmatic approach”

Gattringer will work closely with administrative director Carmen Breitwieser. The two know each other from the pandemic years, when they worked on various committees and crisis teams. “His expertise and his pragmatic, level-headed approach helped us a lot, especially in this phase,” says Breitwieser.

In terms of content, he wants to promote exchange between the various partners in the health system, says Gattringer: “It’s a cycle that is currently a little disrupted.” The problems in the outpatient sector and in the care facilities mostly fall back on the hospitals. “That’s why we are interested in good cooperation,” says Gattringer. At the same time, however, he emphasizes the strengths of the clinic and its two locations: “We have many specialties, which also makes us attractive as a training hospital.” It is also important to introduce medical students to less popular specialties such as child psychiatry.

The “General Medical Care Unit” in the hospital shows that there are solutions: around 90 patients use the general medical care offered to Welser every day. “That’s also exciting because there is a mix of established and younger colleagues there,” says Gattringer.