Health History on a Family Member or Friend

Health History on a Family Member or Friend

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Health History on a Family Member or Friend
Gathering patient information during an interview is the core and basic bystander of the recovery process. The information collected from patients gives an idea of the health issue and enables early detection of a disease and a medical remedy. Interviewing a patient is not easy as it may look. In some cases, patients have proven non-cooperative, giving medical practitioners hard to determine the health problem. In this regard, the proceeding paragraphs of this article provide an analysis of a health interview I conducted on a family member.
Present and Past Health
Mr. Sulik is a who was recently diagnosed with hypertension. According to the physical tests performed, his blood vessels have weakened, and the walls of the heart’s pumping chambers have thickened. He also complained of loss of vision, difficulties in breathing, and severe fatigue. Before, he had been a victim of diabetes and kidney disease. His condition became worse, and further tests were conducted. It was discovered that Mr. Sulika contracted high blood pressure.
Family History
Through the interview with Mr. Sulika, I discovered that his father was a victim of chronic heart failure, and his mother was diagnosed with cardiovascular disorder. He has a wife working as a teacher and two children still in school. According to his words, his wife and children are in good health. However, he lost his dad three years ago due to CHF. His mother is battling a cardiovascular disorder.
Willingness to share information
At first, my patient was unwilling to disclose his health and family history. He questioned my trust and felt information about his family was private and confidential. However, I employed professional, ethical nursing principles to convince my client about not disclosing his private and family health information. I began by building a good rapport with Mr. Sulika by giving him a precise introduction about who I was and how willing I was to help him recover. To engage him more, I used a series of open-ended questions. For instance, I requested to know how he has been feeling lately. I employed active listening and empathy to understand the patient’s experience and acknowledge his communication. This encouraged Mr. Sulika, and he opened up about his experiences.
Most challenging part of the Interview
Interviewing patients comes with a series of challenges. Some patients fail to cooperate with the nurses due to several reasons. For instance, during the interview, Mr. Sulik was controlled by his emotions. He became sad and was anxious about his health condition, making him fail to respond to some questions I asked. It was hard to explain his condition courtesy of his emotions to him.
When this happened, I felt it was appropriate for me to break the interview to allow my client to become emotionally sound before recommencing. Being of Caucasian origin, Mr. Sulika was not proficient in communicating and understanding English. Sometimes it was hard for me to explain his condition and the treatment plan since he was not good at English. I used his child, who served as an awesome interpreter, to understand him better.
Taking a Health History
Taking a health history is not as easy as it may seem. Some questions asked to the patient might seem private or might lead to the client responding emotionally. Regardless, I was comfortable interrogating my client during the interview courtesy of my questioning, interpersonal skills, and communication techniques. Though there were instances where my patient reacted emotionally with sadness and anxiety, I managed to convince him that this information would be essential in determining his health status and coming up with the most suitable treatment plan.
Interviewing Techniques
Interviewing techniques are pivotal in the medical field. Medical practitioners gather information about the patient that through them. Some of the interviewing techniques I used were building a rapport with my client, active listening without judgment, showing empathy and concern, and . These techniques facilitated more listening and limited my talking, essential when conducting a health history assessment. I was able to comprehend what my patient was communicating fully. The above techniques were easy to incorporate due to my knowledge of healthcare quality care as a trained nurse. In this regard, I faced no challenges in implementing the mentioned interviewing techniques.
Importance of Health History of the Patient
The health history information I gathered from my client will help me have subjective data of the patient’s medical condition and his family. This data will be essential to my healthcare team and the patient. We will work collaboratively to develop a treatment plan that is suitable for Mr. Sulika. His health problems will be adequately addressed through the information, and he will receive quality care. In addition, Mr. Sulika’s health history shows the range of the manifestation of the disease. I can now know the root cause of his condition. Pivotal details about my patient’s health problems give me a clue of his current health status and a grim picture of any risks that might occur in the future.