SFAT-AM: short family therapy in ambulatory medicine. Treatment approach in 10-15 minute encounters

Abstract

The question of the possibilities latent within an appointment lasting on average only 10-15 minutes, under the pressures of a heavy workload in a public clinic, has occupied the authors for three years. SFAT-AM: Short Family Therapy in Ambulatory Medicine, has been developed with aim of offering solutions to this question. The theoretical background is taken from family medicine with a biopsychosocial (b.p.s.) systems approach. The authors formulated series of basic doctor-patient encounters which last on average 10-15 minutes. The basic encounter is a kind of didactic checklist model which presents to the doctor possibilities latent within. Emphasis is placed on the art of treatment and the meeting itself as therapeutic. During the meeting, patient's satisfaction, psychosocial information and the doctor's inner voice help the participants adjust to each other and move from stage to stage. The approach also relates to the possibility of joint work together with colleagues or with members of different teams in the clinic. The doctor makes use of communication techniques and reaches a b.p.s. diagnosis which will be the basis for suggesting a treatment. The presented model was tried by the authors and by trainees as part of a specialization course in family medicine. The trainees received between 20 and 70 academic hours of instruction. From the doctors' report it can be seen that SFAT-AM can be used in a primary clinic. Future research should give more specific answers to questions about the model's desirability, cost-efficiency, and job satisfaction. (Doctors will be referred to in the male gender throughout the article).