Synopsis

This best-selling title continues to provide succinct and valuable information on conducting patient interviews for students in medicine, nurse practitioner programs, and physician programs. Its primary focus is on interactive skills as tools for gathering data objectively and precisely, and for building relationships with patients.

This book will help students learn the art of medical interviewing through examples of real clinician-patient dialogues both good and bad. It contains chapters on CAM, malpractice prevention, and cultural sensitivity and diversity.

Key Features

• Addresses the practical and tacit issues involved in the medical interview as the critical tool for the establishment and continuation of a clinician-patient relationship
• Contains examples of correct and flawed clinician-patient interviews that are taken from real-life encounters
• Explains how to reduce malpractice suits through effective communication
• Provides guidelines on how to talk to patients about complementary and alternative therapies
• Discusses communication skills needed with patients with alternative sexual orientations
• "Clinical Key" boxes display important tips at a glance
• Addresses diverse topics as cultural sensitivity and diversity, telling bad news, palliative care, sexual history taking, spirituality, and adolescent interviewing
• Inside covers contain information that summarize the main points to remember in conducting a medical interview and suggest "words that work".

Reviewer: Sally Ling, M.D.;FACP(University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine)
Description: This is the fifth edition of a book that strives to present all the important and practical information that is useful to anyone who conducts clinician-patient interviews. It was previously published in 1999.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide readers with the skills necessary to obtain meaningful information from the patient, so that the best medical care can be provided.
Audience: The book is written for medical students and other healthcare professionals who are just learning the process involved in medical interviews as well as for those experienced clinicians who are working on continual improvement in this critical skill. The authors are well respected for their contributions to the field of medical interviewing.
Features: Each traditional aspect of the history is discussed in part one. The second part of the book reviews special situations such as the geriatric patient, cultural competency, telling bad news, ethics, and malpractice concerns. The book is remarkable for its completely realistic examples and scenarios which are used well to illustrate the teaching points.
Assessment: This is a very useful and readable book for beginning students, or for those looking to hone their skills in certain situations. New chapters on ethics and the law and the sexual history are both timely and well written.

Biography

John L. Coulehan, MD, MPH, FACP, Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York. Marian R. Block, MD, ABFP, Chairperson, Department of Family Medicine, The Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.