Target audience

Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Registered Nurses, Residents, and other healthcare team members

Learning Objectives

1. Review how language can contribute to stigma regarding mental illnesses.
2. Identify barriers that patients with mental illnesses face when seeking and receiving care.
3. Recognize opportunities to be more thoughtful in use of language as it relates to treating patients with mental illnesses.
4. Define Stigma.
5. Identify what causes and perpetuates stigma against people with mental health issues.
6. Reflect on a time when you felt stigmatized in a healthcare setting.
7. Identify ways that stigma about mental illnesses complicates the patient-provider relationship.
8. Acknowledge that providers' language is sometimes (intentionally or unintentionally) insensitive, stigmatizing, and problematic.
9. Identify alternate language to common, stigmatizing medical terms and phrases.

Speaker's Disclosures

Heather Voorhees, Ph.D, speaker for this educational activity, has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

Planners' Disclosures

Michael Mackert, Komal Gandhi, Heather Voorhees, Shayna Brewer, Erin Donovan, Brad Love, David Ring, MD, planners for this educational activity, have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

The CME Advisory Committee, reviewers of this educational activity, have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School designates this enduring material for a maximum of .75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This course has been designated by The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School for .75 credit(s) of education in medical ethics and/or professional responsibility.

Requirements for Successful Completion:

You must first complete the internet module AND complete the CME evaluation prior to receiving CME credit.

University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

Requirements for successful completion: To receive contact hours for this continuing education activity, the participant must register, complete the entire course, pass the post-test with 80% or better, and complete and submit the evaluation form. Once successful completion has been verified, a "Certificate of Successful completion" will be awarded for .75 contact hours.

Learning outcome: Upon completion of this course, the registered nurse will report a plan to change practice related to increased knowledge of barriers that patients with mental illness face when seeking and receiving care, including use of stigmatized language by healthcare workers, which can contribute to these barriers.

Conflicts of Interest: A conflict of interest occurs when an individual has an opportunity to affect or impact educational content with which he or she may have a commercial interest or a potentially biasing relationship of a financial nature. All planners and presenters/authors/content reviewers must disclose the presence or absence of a conflict of interest relative to this activity.

The activity's Nurse Planner has determined that no one who has the ability to control the content of this CNE activity planning committee members and presenters/authors/content reviewers has a conflict of interest.

Joint Provider Statement: This CNE activity has been jointly provided by University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing collaboratively with UT Dell Medical School and Moody College of Healthcare Communications.