Bridget McCarty. Tutor: Sharon Jones
TASK ONE * D: So Stacey do you want to tell me why you came into the doctor today?
P: Um, uh yesterday I sort of fell down my stairs, going to, going to work and I did something to my ankle,
D: Mmhmm
P: And it’s just it’s really really sore. Yeah.
D: Cool, how did you fall down the stairs?
I chose this segment because it is at the beginning of my consultation after initiating the session and it is very important. I thought I started off well by asking a good open ended question and receiving a good reply from the patient as to what happened. I used encouraging nods and “mmhmm” however, there were definitely multiple other questions I could have used instead of the second question I asked. I should have asked if there was any other reason that brought her into the doctor today and if not set the agenda for the session and then asked her more about her presenting problem which was falling down the stairs. * P:It was quite icy yesterday and our stairs are pretty bad, I was rushing to get to work and I sort of slipped, and um and sort of rolled it, sort of rolled my ankle and then like it was really really sore but I had to keep going because I had to get to work
D: Right, okay, so you walked on it yesterday?
This was a good clarifying question to ask, but perhaps should have been used later on in the consultation when trying to find out more specific details. This would have been a good time to acknowledge the amount of pain the patient was in and recognise the inconvenience for her as she still had to go to work even though she was in significant pain. After this, I could have maybe asked what kind of pain it was? Referring to dull, sharp etc but not mentioning the types, letting her describe it herself and if she didn’t understand asking her to explain what the pain feels like. * D: Um have you noticed that it is, um particularly sore at any points of the day