Welcome to our webpage for this minicourse on crisis intervention. As much as I could hope none of you will ever have to deal with these situations, by the nature of your roles and profession, I know all of you will. It is often surprising to medical students to consider that they may have to cope with violent patients, personal safety, deal with ungrateful patients, or be concerned about their carrying stress home to their own families. Although this course is a very brief time to cover such a broad topic, it should give you an exposure to the range of crises you will likely encounter. I encourage you to continue your studies on this topic on your own and throughout your career.Course Description. This course is an introduction to and overview of crisis intervention related to medical practice. It will present the principles of effective crisis management, explore representative crisis situations, including: depression & suicide, sexual assault and child abuse, violence and spouse abuse, critical incident debriefing, and response to needs of families in crisis. It will identify sources, symptoms, and stages of crisis, examine preenting complaint patterns, discuss assessment and initial intervention techniques, and consider safety and self care as a responder.
Objectives. As a result of this course you will:
Evaluation. Although factual and procedural content will be distributed (handouts), the emphasis will be on the process of crisis intervention and your role and the role of CI in your practice. Final evaluation will be on a pass/fail basis and will be contingent upon your regular attendance and participation in class discussion.
- explore your preferred role in various crisis situations;
- describe initial rapport and calming behaviors during crisis;
- assess type, stage, and severity of crisis;
- explain a rationale for interventions and contingencies;
- describe a personal plan for pre- and post-crisis self care;
- be able to respond more appropriately to the many traumatized persons whose conditions are sometimes overlooked by health professionals.
The following schedule and links to topics should help you overview the course and become familair with the readings at your convenience prior to the next class session. Be prepared to discuss each of the questions posed for each class session.
Room 130 Med.
Date Assignments Nov. 9
2:00-4:00Introduction & overview: history and principles of CI, symptoms and stages of reaction, facilitative and supportive behaviors (Introduction PPT) Nov. 14
8:00-10:00Depression & suicide: causes, incidence, signs, symptoms, & interventions Nov. 17 10:00-12:00 Coping with violence: sexual assault, child & spouse abuse, dangerous persons Nov. 28
2:00-4:00Critical incident management: post-traumatic stress disorder, strategy and steps in staff response to critical incident Nov 30.
1:00-3:00Stress management & physician self-care: How to care for yourself and others Instructor Information.
David X. Swenson, Ph.D. LP DABPS (e-mail)
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