Behavioural Medicine

Behavioural Medicine is an umbrella that covers three facets of residency training:

  • Communication Skills
  • Mental Health Teaching
  • Resilience Training and Physician Wellness

Behavioural Medicine teaching spans the two-year residency program, and is covered in various ways.

R1 year

During the July Foundations Course of the first year:

  • Introduction to Advanced Care Planning
  • Baseline Interview - one-on-one patient interview simulation with Family Medicine faculty member
  • Resiliency Training Workshop (Resident Doctors of Canada workshop)

Six Behavioural Medicine workshops are scheduled into the first year block-time rotation, which focus on teaching advanced communication skills. The six behavioural medicine workshops are

Introduction to the patient-centred interview and finding common ground

  • Approach to difficult conversations
  • Breaking bad news
  • Approach to difficult encounters (including ending the doctor-patient relationship, approaching college complaints) and introduction to narrative reflection
  • Approach to behaviour change and revisiting Advanced Care Planning
  • Review of the patient-centred interview

R2 Year

  • CBT and DBT workshop held in July Foundations Course
  • Psychiatry rotation