Workshop 13

Background: Mental health problems are prevalent in primary care; yet they are under-recognized. This leads to significant morbidity and higher services utilization. Effective communication skills (CS) are of paramount importance to detect psychological distress (PD) and achieve better patient adherence to medications and health outcomes.

Aim: In this workshop we will list the CS that aid in detecting and dealing with psychologically distressed patients (PDP). Adopting a bio-psychosocial approach and legitimizing concerns besides others are important when attending to PDP.

Session description: We will review the BATHE technique as one way to ensure that primary care physicians address psychosocial issues. The use of the acronym N-U-R-S-E helps health professionals address emotions appropriately. A visual aid that may help patients understand the link between the body and mind and improve adherence to treatment will be highlighted. Participants will have the chance to role play two scenarios to administer their CS with PDP.