SR® Counseling Life Coaching in Emergency Care

SR® Counseling Life Coaching in Emergency Care

Identifying a patient with depression is often missed amid the bustling activity of an emergency department. Yet that environment may be a good venue for detecting it.

Researchers reviewed audio recordings of conversations between providers and 871 women aged 18 to 65 who visited either a city or suburban hospital’s emergency department (ED) between June 2001 and December 2002. Of the 486 women randomized to complete a health risk survey on a computer, nearly half of them (48 percent) reported they felt sad or depressed for more than 2 weeks during the past month, and 28 percent said they felt sad or depressed for most of the prior 2 weeks. Providers were more likely to address depression and other psychosocial issues when the patient self-disclosed these risk factors on the computer. However, even when prompted to do so by the computer, providers addressed depression with only 70 patients (8 percent) and had significant discussions with only 20 patients (2 percent). It was not uncommon for ED providers to dismiss patients concerns, be judgmental, interrupt their response, or ask multiplequestions at one time. On a positive note, in most significant discussions, providers expressed empathy (85 percent) and asked well-worded sensitive questions (90 percent). Rhodes, Kushner, Bisgaier, and Prenoveau, “Characterizing emergency department discussions about depression,” Academic Emergency Medicine 14(10):908-11, 2007

Setting the Standard with SR®

The three instrument 22 question single page first Step of SR® readily detects if someone admitted into ER is suffering form depression. After this initial step a Certified SR® professional in the ER can have a significant impact on the patient in just 10 minutes. Monitoring a client with the three instrument Emotional Checklist can be done remotely online and transferred to the primary care physician or behavioral health professional.