Articles

Teamwork and treatment go hand in hand: How shared decision making can engage consumers and improve outcomes

By James Schuster, MD, Darlene Karpaski, NBCCH, CPRP, Gail Kubrin, MD, Patricia Deegan, PhD, and Nancy Parrotta, LPC, NCC (October 2011)

As Gail Kubrin, MD, a psychiatrist at Turtle Creek Valley Mental Health/Mental Retardation, Inc. walks to her office, she scans a computer printout of a Health Report from Margaret, a client who seems to be doing well: no suicidal thoughts, no problems with medication, a stable mood. Then a surprise: Margaret's goal for the session is to find out whether the medications she is taking would interfere with her becoming pregnant.

Raising personal issues can be hard for many clients. But since Turtle Creek turned to Shared Decision Making (SDM), its doctors and therapists are hearing a lot more important questions from clients who had been reticent in the past.

Read the full article from Behavioral Healthcare Magazine about Community Care and Turtle Creek's implementation of Shared Decision Making, the challenges faced, and the positive response from consumers and psychiatrists:

High Resolution Version (PDF) - 6.42 MB
Low Resolution Version (PDF) - 640 KB

This article, in its entirety, appeared in the October 2011 issue of Behavioral Healthcare Magazine

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