breaking the ice with patients - gold123

[ArchivalUser]

breaking the ice with patients

Knock
Knock, open the door and poke your head into the room while inquiring œMr. Doe? as you enter the room. Ideally the patient should respond with a œyes, the idea is to be able to discover dementia patients right away. A patient with dementia will not respond when you ask their name. This gives you a head start in trying to decipher what is going on.

Make Eye Contact
Make eye contact with the patient as soon as you enter the room. Put on your warmest smile and extend your hand for a handshake while introducing yourself. œI™m Dr. Doe (Last name), a physician with the clinic, and I™m here to address your concerns. How can I help you today?

Always have your smile during that introduction period no matter how bad you think the patient is from what you can see so far. Smiling tends to exude compassion and most people will respond with a reflex social smile of their own. In that few seconds you are developing a rapport with them and they will get comfortable and warm up to you.

please feel free to add to this

http://www.physicalexamvideo.com

[ArchivalUser]

another Reason to ask his name is " to make sure its not different person.....lolz, simple concept"
then comes assurance " I am so sorry to know that but I wanna to assure you that I will try my best to help you "

[ArchivalUser]

maintaining eye contact

I think this one is very important since other cultures are not used to maintaining eye contact for long periods. The whole idea behind that is to have the patient believe you are paying attention and listening to what they are saying.

You should follow up too and as questions like onset, duration of complaint etc. Also learning paraphrasing the patients answers put both of you on the same page.

http://www.physicalexamvideo.com/Contents.html