Health Assessment Interview Report: Building Rapport in Healthcare

This report delves into the significance of health assessment interviews in healthcare, emphasizing the crucial role of establishing and maintaining rapport between practitioners and patients. It highlights key considerations for building a positive connection, such as simplicity in communication, cultural sensitivity, the physical environment, and personal qualities like empathy and active listening. The report details various techniques for establishing and maintaining rapport, including maintaining eye contact, personalizing the interview, and expressing empathy to foster trust and improve patient care. Furthermore, it explores effective questioning techniques within therapeutic communication, such as active listening, open-ended questions, reflection, and providing leads to facilitate information exchange and understanding. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of incorporating therapeutic communication techniques to enhance patient experience and achieve better health outcomes, providing a valuable guide for healthcare professionals.

Running head: HEALTH ASSESSMENT 1
Health Assessment Interview
Name
Institution

HEALTH ASSESSMENT 2
Health Assessment Interview
Introduction
A health assessment interview is important in making a diagnosis and developing a therapeutic
relationship between a practitioner and their client. A practitioner needs to build and maintain a
rapport with the client. A rapport can be described as a state of harmonious understanding
between people. This paper discusses the considerations for building and maintaining a rapport.
It will then talk about the techniques used to establish and maintain a rapport with a client. The
paper will finally talk about the effective questioning techniques required in a health assessment
interview.
Considerations for Establishing and Maintaining Rapport
A nurse needs to make a positive connection with their patient to improve patient experience
thus ensuring patient satisfaction. Practitioners need to consider some important factors before
they can start interviewing a patient because these factors form the basis for the considerations
for the establishment and maintenance of a rapport. One of the considerations is simplicity.
Simplicity is very important in health assessment interview because it ensures that messages are
clear and easy to understand (Burch, 2012). Simplicity in a language is therefore important in
establishing and maintaining rapport with the patient. Another consideration should be the
patient’s culture. The respect of one’s culture is essential in building a relationship with them
thus ensuring that a good rapport is established and maintained between the nurse and their
patient.
As a nurse, it is also essential to consider the physical environment of the interview setting
before a rapport can be established and maintained. According to O'Toole (2016), the physical

HEALTH ASSESSMENT 3
environment can include external factors that affect communication. These are the room setting,
dressing, physical appearance, body odor, furniture arrangement, and the possibility of
interruptions. The patient should be able to feel comfortable with their physical surrounding
before they can build a nurse-patient relationship. Personal abilities and quality should also be
considered before establishing and marinating a rapport with a client (Jarvis, 2011). These
include qualities such as good communication, respect of the patient, ability to empathize with
the patient, and the ability to listen to the client.
Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining Rapport
It is important to build a trusting relationship with a patient as this makes care delivery easier in
healthcare. According to Mills (2020), a good rapport ensures that there exists a close and
harmonious relationship between a nurse and their patient. As a result, one can easily understand
the feelings of their patient and communicate effectively with them. This type of connection is
believed to improve patient care thus leading to better health outcomes. Several techniques are
available to help in establishing and maintain a rapport with a patient before a health assessment
interview.
One of the techniques is by maintaining eye contact with the patient. Studies reveal that maintain
eye contact passes a message that one is caring and compassionate. Additionally, it shows the
client that you have their interest at heart. Another technique is by making the interview personal
by making an effort to know and understand the patient and their condition or situation (Mills,
2020). This can be done by asking the patient questions about their friends, families, and hobbies
among others. The patient will get the impression that a nurse wants to understand them not only
as a patient but also as a person. Another technique is by expressing empathy. A nurse should be
able to empathize with their patient and share their feelings (Perry, Potter & Ostendorf, 2015).

HEALTH ASSESSMENT 4
These techniques help in building trust thus creating a successful patient-nurse relationship. It is
worth noting that once a rapport is created then care delivery becomes easier thus improving
health outcomes.
Effective Questioning Technique
Therapeutic communication involves the emotional and physical advancement of the patient
through face-to-face communication. Nurses and other healthcare practitioners use techniques of
therapeutic communication to provide their patients with support and information (O'Toole,
2016). These techniques are interpersonal and they ensure that the nurse focuses on the patient’s
special and specific needs during an interview. This, therefore, ensures that information is
exchanged effectively between the nurse and the patient.
One of the therapeutic communication techniques is active listening which is a very important
aspect of communication in nursing. This technique ensures that the nurse hears, processes, and
comprehends every word said by the patient during a health assessment interview (Townsend &
Morgan, 2017). The nurse must also process the words and relate them to the patient situation.
Active listening also involves paying attention to the non-verbal cues sent by the patient.
Another technique is the use of open-ended questions that require the patient to give more
information rather than just giving a yes or no response. This technique is believed to be very
essential particularly in situations where the nurse might want to deeper information from the
patient to understand their condition ("Therapeutic Communication", 2020). Reflection is
another important therapeutic communication technique that ensures that the nurse can reflect
what they believe are the patient’s true feelings hidden beneath their words. Another technique is
the provision of leads for the patient thus enabling the patient to keep talking about their
situation.

HEALTH ASSESSMENT 5
Conclusion
Establishing and maintaining a rapport with a patient is important in conducting an effective
health assessment interview. The primary aim of such an interview is to help in the diagnosis of a
patient and understanding their condition. Several considerations are observed to ensure that an
effective rapport can be created between a nurse and their patient before, during and after the
health assessment interview. Techniques for establishing and maintaining a rapport are also
available to ensure that a nurse can create a respectful relationship with the patient. It is also
important to incorporate therapeutic communication techniques in such interviews to improve
patient experience and consequently lead to better patient outcomes.

HEALTH ASSESSMENT 6
Reference
Perry, A. G., Potter, P. A., & Ostendorf, W. (2015). Nursing Interventions & Clinical Skills-E-
Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Mills, M. (2020). How to Build Rapport with Patients | NurseChoice. Retrieved 18 March 2020,
from https://www.nursechoice.com/traveler-resources/how-to-build-rapport-with-
patients-7-effective-tips-for-rns/
Townsend, M. C., & Morgan, K. I. (2017). Psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care
in evidence-based practice. FA Davis.
O'Toole, G. (2016). Communication-eBook: Core Interpersonal Skills for Health Professionals.
Elsevier Health Sciences.
Jarvis, C. (2011). Physical Examination and Health Assessment-E-Book. Elsevier Health
Sciences.
Burch, M. A. (2012). Communicating Simplicity. the Simplicity Institute.
Therapeutic Communication. (2020). Retrieved 18 March 2020, from
https://www.registerednursing.org/nclex/therapeutic-communication/