Staff-Patient Staff Conferences
ERIC BERNE M.D.1
1 Consultant in group therapy at the McAuley Neuropsychiatric Institute of St. Mary's Hospital, San Francisco, Calif.
The author describes a procedure whereby, following a ward meeting or group therapy session, the staff holds its professional conference—including treatment planning—in the presence of the patients. If certain rules (which he lists) are followed and each member of the staff speaks frankly and to the point, patients of all ages and diagnostic categories are almost unanimously appreciative. A few staff members find this procedure distasteful while others find it congenial, stimulating, and therapeutically valuable.
