Taking good notes why interviewing/evaluating patients

[PsychedUp313]

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Hi all - I'm curious if anyone has tips regarding how to be a better note taker when interviewing patients. I'm an early career psychologist who does forensic evals and noticed I'm having difficulty taking thorough notes while also fully attending to the patient I'm interviewing. I'd love to hear any advice you have!

 

[WisNeuro]

Templates.

 

[psych.meout]

Templates.

Yep, templates definitely help and if you want to get really fancy with it you can integrate drop down lists and other features so you don't even have to type for the more common responses to things you're assessing.

 

[WisNeuro]

Yep, templates definitely help and if you want to get really fancy with it you can integrate drop down lists and other features so you don't even have to type for the more common responses to things you're assessing.

Definitely. And, as far as forensic work, I just type into the report itself at this point. I can type a lot faster than I can legibly write at this point, and that way I don't have to deal with handing over handwritten notes when they request everything and the kitchen sink.

 

[psych.meout]

Definitely. And, as far as forensic work, I just type into the report itself at this point. I can type a lot faster than I can legibly write at this point, and that way I don't have to deal with handing over handwritten notes when they request everything and the kitchen sink.

That's what I do as well. The only time I've ever taking paper notes is when I've doing inpatient evals since I can't really use a computer there.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Indeed, particularly for forensic work. I'll still often use handwritten notes in clinical cases because I'm a creature of habit, but even there, I'm veering more toward typing as I go.