I’m feeling extremely good today despite four mind-blowing Neuro lectures this morning. The reason? I did an awesome patient interview!
This was not an actual patient interview, so I can talk about it. He came in with depression basically. His wife died seven months ago and he was having difficulty with day-to-day activities. Boy, I handled it like an Attending with inquiries regarding his background, his family, his social life, and even suicide. I scanned him for depression with the usual depressive symptoms and he scored very high.
Psychologically, I walked him verbally through from the beginning of their first date, their marriage, their children, and eventually her sudden MI. Alcohol, tobacco, and substance abuse were also asked especially after her death. Ultimately, I got him to verbally express a lot of his guilt that eventually led to acceptance. It was an excellent interview. My colleagues and the proctor were impressed. I’ve redeemed myself from many failed interviews before!
You might think it’s strange for us to do psychological assessment as well, but it’s actually very common. Your physician did get this type of training. Whether he/she practice it or not is a completely different story. Medicine is not all about management of the body. The compassion in medicine is the management of the mind, and that makes us human.
On a side note, I did forget to ask him about childhood illnesses. Darn!
Posted by Melle on April 15, 2009 at 6:34 pm
YAY! Congratulations! After I read that, I must say that even I was impressed! I did not know you had to ask ALL of those questions!
Random side note: I hope you know that almost every blog entry you write you are setting an excellent example for students like me preparing to apply to medical school.
On another random side note: Thank you!
Posted by Thao on April 17, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Woohooo! Congrats on your successful patient interview!!