Exam I Flashcards
Purposes of the medical interview
- establish relationship
- acquire information (subjective) to promote health and well-being of patient
Sections and Section Components of a Full Medical History
DATE AND TIME, ID (name, gender, age, source), RELIABILITY, CC, HPI (hloride-pac, medications with dose, route, name, indication, compliancy, allergies with specific reaction, smoking, drugs, alcohol - CAGE/TACE), PMH (child, adult, surgical, medical, psychiatric, health maintenance, OB/GYN - G(Pregnancies)P(full)(Preterm)(Abortions)(Living), FH (parents, siblings, kids - living status, genetic or chronic conditions, alcohol abuse), SH (sex, marital, occupation, exercise and diet, religion, access to care, support, race/ethnicity), ROS ( 4 questions per system)
ROS Steps
General Skin HEENT Neck Breasts Respiratory Cardiovascular Gastrointestingal Peripheral Vascular Urinary Genital Musculoskeletal Psychiatric Neurological Hematologic Endocrine
Steps for a successful interview
- Time for self-reflection
- review of medical record
- interview goals
- provider’s behavior and appearance
- adjusting the environment
Sequence of interview
Greeting the patient and establishing rapport. Taking notes. Establishing the agenda for the interview. Inviting the patient’s story and exploring the patient’s perspective (FIFE -feelings, ideas, function, expectations). Identifying and responding to emotional cues. Expanding and clarifying the patient’s story (pursue the 7 attributes of a symptom). Generating and testing diagnostic hypotheses. Sharing the treatment plan. Closing the interview and the visit. Taking time for self-reflection.
Active Listening
Process of closely attending to what the patient is communicating, awareness of the patient’s emotional state
Guided Questioning
- move from open-ended to focused questions
- use questioning that elicits a graded response
- ask a series of questions, one at a time
- offer multiple choices for answers
- clarify what the patient means
- encourage with continuers
- use echoing (no bias)
Nonverbal communication
- read the patient’s nonverbal clues and use these to gage how the patient is reacting to you
Empathetic Responses
Capacity of the clinician to identify with the patient and feel the patient’s pain as the clinician’s own
Validation
- affirmation of the patient by acknowledging the legitimacy of his/her emotional experience.
Reassurance
- identify and acknowledge the patient’s feelings
- make sure the patient feels confident that problems have been fully understood and are being addressed
Partnering
- be explicit about your commitment to an ongoing partnership/continued care
Summarization
- summarize at points what you do and do not know
- communicates that you have been listening carefully
- good to do at times of transition
Transitions
- make transitions clear to the patient during the interview to set them at ease
Empowering the Patient
- evoke the patient’s perspective
- convey interest in the person, not just the problem
- follow the patient’s leads
- elicit and validate emotional content
- share information with the patient, especially at transition points during the visit
- make your clinical reasoning transparent to patient
- reveal limits of your knowledge
Silent Patient
- be attentive and respectful, convey encouragement for the patient to continue, watch for nonverbal cues, consider changing your wording
Confusing Patient
- don’t get frustrated or baffled
- focus on the meaning or function of a symptom
- consider a psychiatric disorder or AMS and instead pause to assess mental status
Patient with Altered Capacity
- assess capacity to answer questions
- seek substituted consent to help with history/surrogate
Talkative Patient
- don’t show impatience or exasperation
- give the patient a few minutes to talk, listen carefully, be supportive, and then focus on what seems to be most important to the patient
- can give a brief summary to focus the interview
Crying Patient
- be supportive
- crying can be therapeutic
- ask if they need privacy if continues
Angry/disruptive Patient
- accept their feelings and allow them to express (without joining in)
- alert the security staff if necessary
- do not argue or appear confrontational
- stay calm
Patient with impaired vision/hearing
- impaired vision: shake hands to establish contact, orient to room, adjust light if needed, report anyone else in room
- impaired hearing: find out patient’s preferred method of communication, eliminate background noise, use visual cues
Patient with limited literacy or cognitive abilities
- low literacy: assess patient’s ability to read, explore why reading is difficult, do not confuse with level of intelligence
- limited cognitive abilities: pay attention to schooling and ability to function independently, important sexual history, can turn to family or caregivers for information
Patient that speaks a different language
- attempt to find non-family interpreter
- make questions short, clear, and simple
- speak directly to patient
- INTERPRET: introductions, note goals, transparency, ethics, respect beliefs, patient focus, retain control, explain, thanks