Improving Patient Interviews

[mac_kin]

I know that the best way to do this is by interviewing as much as I can but our school only really gave us a check-list of what we should cover (ie. Past medical history, present illness, social history etc.)

I was wondering if anyone knows of good resources/articles that talk about interview skills and strategies to improve these.

If anyone knows of any web resources, send them my way! Thanks a bunch a guys!!

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[Instatewaiter]

Practice makes perfect

 

[distracted]

You can buy an edition of Bates (you'll probably need it for your 2nd year PD class anyway). It has a chapter or two in the front about the important elements of the history. It also contains information in each chapter about how to take a proper history focusing on different organ systems.

Other than that, there are a lot of books that focus entirely on "the medical interview". If you are feeling motivated and have time to read them, they may be worth looking at. The book we used was simply called "The Medical Interview".

 

[smq123]

I know that the best way to do this is by interviewing as much as I can but our school only really gave us a check-list of what we should cover (ie. Past medical history, present illness, social history etc.)

I was wondering if anyone knows of good resources/articles that talk about interview skills and strategies to improve these.

If anyone knows of any web resources, send them my way! Thanks a bunch a guys!!

What, exactly, in your interviews are you trying to improve? Are you trying to go faster? Or do you feel like you're only covering the bare minimum and would like to be more thorough? Or do you feel that you don't speak loudly enough/clearly enough because you're shy?

 

[booswim542]

I actually found a really helpful site when I was going through my interview practice. I think it's actually written by someone at my school....

Here ya go!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=cm.chapter.179

 

[Occams Razor]

I practice my repertoire the minute I sense an injury with a friend, classmate, SO, neighbor, etc. Take a history over a broken nail. Sounds frivolous, but it works.

Also, you may try tape recording the history and playing it back to yourself.

 

[tacrum43]

I think this website is pretty good (and it has info for physical exams too)

http://meded.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/history.htm
http://meded.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/rest.htm