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Evaluation ViewAttendees 16

Adolescent Medicine

Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

General Pediatrics

Hospital Medicine

Mental Health

Trainee
Session Type: Workshop

INFORM with Confidence: A Communication Framework for Diagnostic Conversations in Functional Disorders

Sunday, April 27, 2025
7:00am – 8:30am HST
Location: Convention Center: 308
CE: 1.5

Disclosure(s):
Florence Lambert-Fliszar, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Hannibal Person, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Catherine Sullivan, MD MHL: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Alexander H. Hogan, MD, MS: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Workshop Description: Initiating and effectively communicating a diagnosis of somatic symptoms and related disorders (SSRD) presents unique challenges for clinicians of all levels and of all pediatric specialties. Somatic symptoms can range anywhere from abdominal pain to abnormal movements, dysuria, or the inability to walk. It can be difficult to find the right time and the right words to disclose a functional diagnosis to a parent, yet studies have demonstrated that parent buy-in greatly affects long-term outcomes for patients with SSRDs. Early inclusion of a functional diagnosis on the differential can destigmatize the condition, prevent over-medicalization, and initiate appropriate treatment. In this workshop, participants will learn a framework with the acronym INFORM to guide their communication with patients and families with SSRDs. They will learn helpful vocabulary and scripts, analogies to orient caregivers to the complex mind-body connection, ways to answer frequently-asked questions, as well as strategies to avoid. Participants will have an opportunity practice these skills through role-play and receive feedback from peers and facilitators. In past iterations of this workshop, participants have demonstrated increased confidence levels with these difficult conversations, and so can you!

Learning Objectives:

  • Apply a biopsychosocial framework to SSRDs that emphasizes adaptation and functioning over maladaptation and disability, and that conceptualizes the diagnosis as one of inclusion rather than exclusion.
  • Describe the impact of early recognition and effective, patient and family-centered communication in the treatment of SSRDs.
  • Lead effective SSRD diagnostic conversations with a patient’s caregivers using the INFORM framework.