Patient Interview Tips


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When working in the healthcare field, it is crucial for allied health professionals to acquire interview techniques that encourage optimal communication between themselves and the patient. The next time you are in a situation where you are interviewing a patient, keep these helpful interview tips in mind:

Whether you’re a Medical Assistant or a Massage Therapist, it helps to establish a rapport with the patient – while always remaining professional and confident. Getting to know your patients on a personal level may help make your patient more comfortable, which will help them fully and honestly answer your questions, even if they are not easy questions to answer.

During the interview, show compassion and concern and build an atmosphere of trust. Be truthful and genuine, as well as empathic. Listen to your patient and pay attention to nonverbal cues – these may give clues about things they are not saying. It may help to share the nonverbal cues you are picking up with the patient in order to help them verbalize their feelings more freely.

When interviewing a patient, respect their privacy. Always consider the environment and if there are others in the room or within earshot. If this is the case, make sure your patient is comfortable with them being present before asking private or possibly touchy questions.

As you advance in your allied health career, these patient interviews will become second nature.


Information in this blog post is accurate as of November 12, 2012.