Pediatric Rheumatologist Aliese Sarkissian, MD, and colleagues, have been engaged participants in The Roadmap Project’s pilot collaborative for the last year and continue to support patient emotional health with Roadmap strategies and tools today.
The UNC team created videos of doctor-patient interactions to demonstrate examples of effective and ineffective communication styles when discussing emotional health with patients with chronic diseases. The team also compiled resource lists to support patients and families with chronic diseases, including peer-to-peer groups. They shared these tools and strategies at division meetings, pediatric resident lectures, and department grant rounds.
Reflecting on this work Dr. Sarkissian said, “As a clinician in a subspecialty, it is often easier to focus on ‘your disease,’ but failure to acknowledge the emotional toll of chronic disease on patients and families undermines the achievable and ideal treatment success. I did not think I had time to incorporate another ‘screening’ into my clinic visits, but I learned it does not have to be perfect – it just needs to be authentic. Normalize the emotional stress, ask how they are feeling, pause to allow an answer, and then keep asking every visit. Listening is an intervention itself, so just start asking. It may be one of the most important elements of care you provide to your patients.”
Begin implementing tested Roadmap strategies and tools into your practice today. Explore available resources on Roadmap’s website: https://www.roadmapforemotionalhealth.org/resources