Does Anyone Have a Case? The Balint Group Experience

So begins another Balint group for clinicians. Using a case presentation model in a facilitated discussion format, clinicians are invited to explore the clinician-patient dynamic. The deceptively simple process can enable clinicians not only to learn more about the perspectives of the patient but also to foster greater satisfaction in the practice of medicine. This is one possible method of practice-based learning that we are exploring to reinvigorate our vocation. Since the 1950s, Balint groups have been used in medical schools, residency programs, and among practicing clinicians worldwide. Recent articles document the value of these groups in preparing clinicians for practice as well as provoking insight, personal growth and satisfaction among those clinicians who have been practicing medicine for some time.1–3 According to the American Balint Society Mission Statement, the goal of the Balint Group experience is “for the participants to transform uncertainty, confusion and difficulty in the doctor-patient relationship into understanding and meaning that nurtures a more therapeutic alliance between clinician and patient.”4 For over two years now, the Department of Medicine at Kaiser Permanente (KP) Oakland has sponsored a hybrid Balint/Practice Inquiry group for physicians, which combines evidence-based medicine with the traditional Balint approach. Every two weeks, a drop-in discussion is held, with lunches and meeting space provided by the department. Recently, Eric Lipsitt, MD, and Laura Morgan, MD, from the KP Oakland Medicine Department, with Cecilia Runkle, PhD, from Regional Physician Education and Development and Lucia Sommers, DrPH, author of the Practice Inquiry method, attended a Balint Leaders Intensive course in Portland, Oregon.