Motivational Interviewing: A Guide for Medical Trainees

This may be the single most important book you ever buy during your medical training. Rotations come and go, exams come and go, but regardless of specialty, patient-care will be at the heart of your practice. It is no exaggeration to say that motivational interviewing (MI) has transformed the way doctors engage with patients, families, and colleagues alike. MI is among the most powerful tools available to promote behavior change in patients. In an age of chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, obesity), behavior change is no longer limited to substance use or the field of psychiatry - maladaptive choices and behaviors that negatively impact health outcomes are rampant. There is an explosion of research projects using MI or adaptations of MI in the behavioral health medicine field in the past decade. Hospitalizations can't make people change. How marvelous is it that an evidence-based health behavior change approach (MI) can help people change the outcomes of their illnesses and the course of their lives.

This therapeutic approach is not a form of psychotherapy and is not the stuff of cobwebs and old leather couches. MI is readily integrated into regular ward rounds and office visits and provides an effective and efficient approach to patients clinical encounters.

Written by experts in the field and medical trainees across medicine, the second edition of the MI guide explores how MI enhances contact with patients from every level of training, following an accessible, succinct approach. This book covers the application of MI method and skills into practice and also includes numerous clinical scenarios, personal reflections and online animated clinical vignettes (video clips) that share the challenges and successes the authors have focused.

Furthermore this book is endorsed by the pioneers of MI: William R. Miller & Stephen Rollnick.


About the Author
Antoine Douaihy, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He serves as the Senior Academic Director of Addiction Medicine Services and Director of the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Western Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Douaihy has been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) since 2002. He has focused his career on patient care, education, mentoring of medical trainees, and research in the areas of psychology of behavior change, motivational interviewing (MI), substance use disorders, and HIV. Dr. Douaihy has been a champion in the implementation and dissemination of MI across healthcare settings and has been the recipient of multiple teaching and mentoring awards, including the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award and The Charles Watson Teaching Award, recognizing him for the qualities of a masterful clinician, academician, caretaker of his patients, educator, mentor, and contributor to the medical school community and community at large.

Thomas M. Kelly, PhD, began his career as a licensed Clinical Social Worker at the Western Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 1982. Dr. Kelly received his doctoral degree in social work in 1996 from the University of Pittsburgh and served as the Director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Service until 2014. Dr. Kelly's other work focused on teaching, consultation, and research. He was a Co-Investigator with the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network and has published over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Kelly has been a MINT member since 2005, and has conducted training workshops, lectures, and seminars, locally and nationally. Dr. Kelly retired from full-time practice as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in 2014. He continues to publish on psychiatric treatment.

Melanie A. Gold, DO, is Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Child and Adolescent Health, Section of Adolescent Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and in the Department of Population & Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health. She serves as Medical Director of New York Presbyterian's School Based Health Centers (SBHCs). Dr. Gold is a Pediatrician who is board certified in Adolescent Medicine. She trained in MI in 1998 and has been a MINT member since 2000. MI has become an integral and critical component of her work as a clinician, researcher, educator, and administrator.