Source: Spring 2019 Editor’s Message by Ed Bope, MD
Time in practice and spent in continuity with patients convinces you how significant good emotional health is on physical health and well-being. Over time, we have seen patients move in and out of periods of distress and/or poor health, and some of us may have even experienced it ourselves. Chronic illness can easily cause anxiety or depression and vice versa, during a period of major depression, it is impossible to feel well.
Family medicine gives us the opportunity to get to know our patients and their families. It often takes a visit with several members of a family to figure out what is really going on at home. Knowing a patient well makes it a bit easier to understand the meaning of subtle changes in looks or demeanor during a visit.
We sense when to probe a bit more. We have all caused a patient to cry by asking the important question and that, though awkward, is the opening for healing. Naturally, our own emotional and physical health is important. Take care of yourself. Colleagues can help; just ask them.
I hope you will take extra time with this issue to read about what your colleagues are doing to address behavioral health needs in in their communities in the articles “All the Care You Need Is Here,” “Improving Communication During Outpatient Visits with Adults with Developmental Disabilities,” “Family Medicine Can Evolve Through Collaborative Team-Based Care,” and “OhioHealth Launches Groundbreaking Initiative to Integrate Behavioral Health and Primary Care.”
Your Academy continues to advocate for you and recently helped pass legislation that institutes step therapy reforms and was instrumental in helping to write the rules to implement the one-bite program legislation passed over a year ago.