Résumé
Providing comprehensive and continuing care to patients is the forte of family physicians. The burden of providing such care to patients with complicated co-morbidities is increasing rapidly in ageing populations. Primary care systems around the world are ill equipped to face such a challenge. Family physicians need to hone their skills in this area of care. In this article, we introduce the SBAR4 model and propose it as a framework for managing patients with complex co-morbidities. This model is easy to learn and use by family physicians as it is based on the familiar SBAR model of clinical communication and Pendleton’s 7 Tasks of consultation. We believe that the SBAR4 will assist the clinician to assess patients with complex co-morbidities and map out a comprehensive care plan that can be easily understood by a multidisciplinary team caring for such patients.
Résumé
Providing comprehensive and continuing care to patients is the forte of family physicians. The burden of providing such care to patients with complicated co-morbidities is increasing rapidly in ageing populations. Primary care systems around the world are ill equipped to face such a challenge. Family physicians need to hone their skills in this area of care. We propose the use of the SBAR4 model as a framework for managing complex co-morbidities. This model is easy to learn and use by family physicians as it is based on the familiar SBAR model of clinical communication and Pendelton’s 7 Tasks of consultation. We believe that the SBAR4 will assist the clinician to assess patients with complex co-morbidities and map out a comprehensive care plan that can be easily understood by a multidisciplinary team caring for such patients.