(From Dr. Sharma, 5 Sept 2000, by Brian Buschman)
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1) Facilitation When you must facilitate and move the interview along.
2) Open ended questions You should ask open ended questions for the best chance of your patient volunteering information.
3) Reflection You comment back on what the patient expresses. A way of making sure you get it right and convince the patient that you are listening to him.
4) Clarification Ask questions of the patient to be able to gather a better understanding of what they are telling you.
5) Confrontation Address problems or things the patient seems to be avoiding or things that need addressing.
6) Summation Add up all of the things mentally to see if it all fits together. Do this before the interview ends so that you have a chance to go back and fill in the holes or correct apparent contradictions.
7) Empathy Putting yourself in the patients shoes and feeling for them but without letting your emotions become involved (sympathy).
8) Silence You can use silence to reflect back on what the patient has said and gives them time to think also. Some periods of silence are necessary. Break the silence by making reference to the last thing that they said.
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