The patient and I sat in the nurses’ room, where I conduct the interview. From the interview, I managed to obtain a comprehensive patient valuable history in providing patient care. While interviewing the patient, I focused on collecting data related to his gender, age, ethnicity, social history and environment. According to the information he gave, the patient is a 40 years old black male. The client also revealed that he is an immigrant from Africa and does not have any medical insurance cover.
In conducting the interview, I employed the following skills and techniques: rapport building, this is was to help me establish an excellent nurse-to-patient first impression that would build the tone of the discussion. The patient became relaxed and comfortable with me, making him open and honest in our communication (Ball et al., 2017). Active listening is a dynamic technique that enabled me to hear what the patient said and interpret to understand the message without tainting it with personal judgment.
Open-ended questions required the patient to answer by descriptions rather than with a yes or no. The skill compelled the client to provide in-depth and insightful details about himself. The closed-ended questioning technique aided me to obtain precise details from the patient by asking a yes or no question (American Diabetes Association, 2017). In seeking intentional answers, I used leading questions that brought the client to give responses that he perceived to be the ones I needed.
To acquire patient clarifications without giving him a chance to defend his choices and actions, I used the “why” questions. The questions give the patient the comfort of answering without feeling as if you are judgmental (Sullivan, 2018). Showing empathy to him felt as though I fully understood his condition making him more cooperative. Nonverbal cues are relevant in passing information without the use of words. Observing the patient’s nonverbal communications revealed his feelings and thoughts.
The patient is a 40 years old black immigrant, and I would prefer using the prevention risk assessment instrument. The body immunity responsible for body defense weakens as one gets older. However, at 40 years, the client’s immunity is strong enough to fight various infections. The assessment tool will aid in boosting immunity further to prevent any risk of infections. Being a black immigrant, the patient is more susceptible to infections making it necessary to observe strict prevention measures. The black race is a marginalized group with low income and education levels, making them high infection risk.
Immigration from Africa is caused by various health factors, which at times are health hazards. War, hunger, economic instability, and pandemics are among the leading immigration causes. This hinders the client’s health and body immunity making him more susceptible. In Africa, due to reasons such as traditional beliefs, most immunization rates are low. Lack of vaccination exposes the person to infections such as tuberculosis and yellow fever (Velupillai, 2019). The prevention risk assessment tool is of financial benefit to my client. The healthcare system is costly for an individual to sustain.
To ascertain the patient’s susceptibility to infection, I could develop the following five target questions:
- Please state your highest level of education?
- Did you observe the immunization protocols appropriately?
- What made you migrate from Africa?
- What is your current occupation?
- In case you fall sick, will you be able to pay your medical bills?
The questions will provide data that reveals the client’s risk of infection and the ability to seek medical attention.
References
American Diabetes Association. (2017). 3. Comprehensive medical evaluation and assessment of comorbidities. Diabetes Care, 40(Supplement 1), S25-S32. Web.
Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2014). Seidel’s Guide to Physical Examination-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Sullivan, D. D. (2018). Guide to Clinical Documentation. FA Davis.
Velupillai, S., Hadlaczky, G., Baca-Garcia, E., Gorrell, G. M., Werbeloff, N., Nguyen, D., Patel, R., Leightley, D., Downs, J., Hotopf, M., & Dutta, R. (2019). Risk assessment tools and data-driven approaches for predicting and preventing suicidal behavior. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 36, 1-4. Web.