Caso Clínico S4

“Interviewing and the Health History”

The health history interview is a conversation with a purpose. As a clinician, we need to draw on many
of the interpersonal skills that we use every day, but with unique and important differences. Unlike
social conversation, in which we express your own needs and interests with responsibility only for
yourself, the primary goal of the clinician–patient interview is to improve the well-being of the patient.

At its most basic level, the purpose of conversation with a patient is threefold: to establish a trusting and
supportive relationship, to gather information, and to offer information. Communicating and relating
therapeutically with patients are the most valued skills of clinical care. As a beginning clinician, we will
focus the energies on gathering information. At the same time, by using techniques that promote trust
and communication, we will allow the patient’s story to unfold in its most full and detailed form.
Establishing a supportive interaction enhances information-gathering and itself becomes part of the
therapeutic process of patient care.

Interviewing patients to obtain a health history requires planning. Once we have devoted time and
thought to prepare for the interview, we are fully ready to listen to the patient, elicit the patient’s
concerns, and learn about the patient’s health. In general, an interview moves through several stages.

The initial moments of your encounter with the patient lay the foundation for your ongoing relationship.
How you greet the patient and other visitors in the room, provide for the patient’s comfort, and arrange
the physical setting all shape the patient’s first impressions. As you begin, greet the patient by name and
introduce yourself, giving your own name. If possible, shake hands with the patient. If this is the first
contact, explain your role, including your status as a student and how you will be involved in the
patient’s care. When visitors are in the room, be sure to acknowledge and greet each one in turn,
inquiring about each person’s name and relationship to the patient. Whenever visitors are present, it is
important for you to maintain confidentiality. Let the patient decide if visitors or family members should
remain in the room, and ask for the patient’s permission before conducting the interview in front of
them.

The clinician often approaches the interview with specific goals in mind. The patient also has specific
questions and concerns. It is important to identify all these issues at the beginning of the encounter. You
can then guide the patient into elaborating areas of the health history that seem most significant. For
the clinician, each symptom has attributes that must be clarified, including context, associations, and
chronology, especially for complaints of pain. For all symptoms, it is critical to fully understand their
essential characteristics.
As you listen to the patient’s concerns, you will begin to generate and test diagnostic hypotheses about
what disease process might be the cause. Identifying the various attributes of the patient’s symptoms
and pursuing specific details are fundamental to recognizing patterns of disease and differentiating one
disease from another. As you learn more about diagnostic patterns, listening for and asking about these
attributes will become more automatic.

You may find that ending the interview is difficult. Patients often have many questions and, if you have
done your job well, they are enjoying talking with you. Giving notice that the end of the interview is
approaching allows time for the patient to ask any final questions. Make sure the patient understands
the agreed-upon plans you have developed. For example, before gathering your papers or standing to
leave the room, you can say “We need to stop now. Do you have any questions about what we’ve
covered?” As you close, reviewing future evaluation, treatments, and follow-up is helpful. “So, you will
take the medicine as we discussed, get the blood test before you leave today, and make a follow-up
appointment for 4 weeks. Do you have any questions about this?” Address any related concerns or
questions that the patient brings up.