Basic psychological skills for all clinicians

All hospital doctors should be able to -

• Communicate clearly with patients, discuss concerns, and elicit misapprehensions and correct them
• Break bad news
• Facilitate grieving by patients and their relatives
• Discuss psychological symptoms and distress without embarrassment
• Discuss the need for specialist psychiatric help without seeming dismissive
• Use antidepressants rationally 
   

BMJ 1997;314:1679 (7 June)   Clinical review.   ABC of mental health: Common mental health problems in hospital.  Ramirez A., House  A.

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