Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
perspective and how it can be brought into the physician's actions. Solutions
that aim at providing heuristic advice for typical interview situations are
often formulated on a general level.
The advice given typically covered areas like learning to recognize the
emotional value and tone of a patient's account, knowing the appropriate
point of time for interactive actions (for instance when and how to react
to emotionally loaded accounts and giving feedback to the patient) and
learning to differentiate between relevant and less relevant information. The
advice could also cover learning to use metaphoric expressions in interviews
(for instance forming a
picture
or a
jigsaw puzzle
of the patient's life) and
interpreting hints from the patient that could signal a hidden problem.
Example 9
SUPERVISOR:
Hm okay,
we don't need to make such a big thing out of it
but I think that this is something to think about.
When one meets a patient who so apparently sends signals about
something painful and troublesome,
that we in one way or another have to respond to that.
Another recurrent area of advice concerned how to manage the interaction
in the medical interview. Much of this advice had to do with learning how to
be in command in the interview situation.
Example 10
SUPERVISOR:
So maybe it is good to give oneself a bit of time in order to
think and formulate the question
not to be in a hurry
let it become a bit quiet
be calm
see if you like
can think about the information you got.
Even if an interview situation can get stuck, acting in a professional way
means improvising and using a doctor's full communicative repertoire in
order to g
et all
the necessary diagnostic information. This GP suggests - in
a slightly jocular manner - a combination of verbal interaction with physical
examination, for instance. He encourages the students to take their time to
refl ect and actively change the process of an interview, instead of judging
their actions in terms of
right
or
wrong
.
