Motivational Interviewing: Tricks of the Trade

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a great tool not only for therapists but for any clinician hoping to advocate for behavior change in their patients-- a very important skill for primary care physicians!

Lynn Massey, an LMSW skilled in brief ED interventions with substance abusers, explained many important characteristics of MI in a recent workshop I attended.  In addition to well-known approaches such as empathy and collaboration with patients, she emphasized the importance of evocation (eliciting, accepting, and understanding patients' ideas about behavior change) and respecting patient autonomy, because in the end, it is the patient's choice to change a behavior or not.

It's also important to realize that motivation, or readiness for change, is a very dynamic process that is the deciding factor when it comes to patient adherence to treatment plans, behavior change, etc.  In fact, there is a model for understanding the process of change that can be very helpful for the frustrated clinician:

source: adultmeducation.com

National Public Health Week Part 3: Racial Disparities in Healthcare

I'd like to close out NPHW with one more topic inspired by an amazing doc and eloquent storyteller who we were fortunate to meet at our public health conference this past week.  Dr. Camara Jones is a well-known family physician, epidemiologist, and research director on Social Determinants of Health & Equity at the CDC.  While many people have a general idea that racial/ethnic minorities generally experience poorer health care and health outcomes, Dr. Jones really helped us understand the roots of some of this by explaining the multiple levels of racism that can lead to health disparities.

National Public Health Week Part 2: Green & Healthy Homes

Now if there is one overarching theme that everyone should understand regarding public health, it's that one's health is profoundly influenced by one's environment.  It's not just a matter of individual choices - I choose to be healthy, therefore I am - but a complex manifestation of multiple factors, both internal and external, that lead to one's health status:

National Public Health Week Part 1: Childhood Obesity

I was fortunate to participate in a Community-Based Public Health Conference in Flint this week and learned a lot of really interesting tidbits related to key public health issues.  I'll do my best to share some of these topical issues in the next couple posts.

One of the topics presented during the conference was the increasingly infamous issue of childhood obesity, a well-known public health problem due to Michelle Obama's extensive initiatives to address this epidemic.

HIV: When to Treat?

Well, I'm finally home in Saginaw and I just wanted to write a concluding post for this elective on an important topic that is the subject of continual debate in the field of HIV medicine -- when should HIV-positive patients begin HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy)?

Gender Transitioning

HAPPY LGBT HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK!

I kicked my final week of this rotation off with a workshop I facilitated with the women of trans experience and gender non-conforming clients at the Bronx Community Pride Center.  The topic was Gender Transitioning: A Medical Perspective, and it was such an energizing hour of dialogue with these amazing folks, who were so engaged in the discussion, asking really informed questions, and contributing their thoughts on controversial issues such as black market hormones.

So what are some general requirements/recommendations for individuals interested in transition-related health care?

LGBT: An Underserved Demographic. What can we do?

When you think of medically underserved communities, what comes to mind?  Ethnic minorities?  The uninsured?  The poor?  How about the LGBT community?