Lessons in caring: how social work integrates psychosocial values into family practice residency training in Israel

This paper presents a model of social work consultation to family practice physicians in two locations in Israel, a kibbutz and an urban family practice medical center. When residents learned to identify and understand how psychosocial factors interact to enhance or impair the physician-patient encounter, they experienced improved quality in their relationships and practice. Physicians learned how the identification of needs can enhance their comfort and effectiveness with patients and how an appropriately made referral to a mental health professional is seen as an act of caring.