University Health Interview: Rapport and Effective Questioning

This report provides an overview of a health interview conducted with an adult client recently diagnosed with diabetes. The assignment focuses on demonstrating health interview skills, emphasizing the establishment and maintenance of rapport, and the use of effective questioning techniques. The report details the considerations taken, such as cultural background and non-verbal cues, to build trust and create a comfortable environment for the patient. It discusses techniques like active listening, empathy, and mirroring to foster positive communication. The report also explores the use of open-ended questions, facilitation, adaptive questioning, and summarization to gather comprehensive health history information while allowing the patient to communicate freely and transparently. The analysis concludes that adapting communication strategies to individual patient needs and cultural values is crucial for a successful health assessment.

Running head: HEALTH CARE
Health care
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Introduction:
Performing health interview is an important clinical responsibility of registered nurse
as part of health assessment process. Successful collection of data during health interview is a
gateway to successful nurse patient relationship (Andrea & Kotowski, 2017). Good health
history assessment requires use of specialized communication skills. This paper will give an
overview of a health interview conducted with an adult and discuss about the methods used to
conduct rapport with the client during the interview. The essay will also discuss about the
techniques used to effectively question client and achieve the purpose of the interview.
Consideration for establishing and maintaining rapport:
The health interview was conducted with a client who has been recently diagnosed
with diabetes. The main purpose of the interview was to evaluate health history of patient and
find out past and current risk factors that could affect diabetic outcome of patient. To ensure
that the purpose of interview is achieved and rapport is established with the patient during the
process, the cultural background, communication style and non verbal gestures of patient
were considered. For example, people coming from diverse culture may have different
language of communication and they may have different ways to interact with patient. Hence,
while establishing rapport with client, the language in which the client was comfortable was
noted and their cultural values in relation to interaction with strangers were researched.
Brooks, Mania and Bloomer (2019) explain that establishing rapport and trust are critical to
communication with staff and patient. They achieve this by showing interest in learning about
different cultural practices and assessing level of openness during communication exchange.
In addition to cultural factors, the non verbal gestures of patient were also considered.
The significance of noting down non verbal gestures while establishing rapport was to mirror
their body language and being respectful to their way of communication. This is necessary to

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demonstrate respect during assessment process. For example, some people like to look
directly in the eyes while communicating, while some get anxious when they are being
watched continuously. Patients who are directly making eye contact show that they are
attentive, while those not making eye contact gives indication of being uncomfortable (Lorié
et al., 2017). Thus, such gesture can help to modify rapport building style as per individual
patient.
Techniques used to establish and maintain rapport:
Good rapport is crucial to maintain harmonious relationship with patient and clearly
understand and interpret all patient’s concern and health problems (Crawford, Candlin &
Roger, 2017). The communication techniques that were used to build rapport included active
listening, showing empathy, mirroring and open communication. According to Jahromi et al.
(2016), active listening is a non intrusive way of encouraging patient to express their thoughts
and opinion. It is a special communication skill that involves paying full attention to what an
individual is saying, listening attentively and not interrupting during the communication. It
involves listening in a way to identify intent, content and feelings of the speaker. This
technique helped to identify whether the patient was anxious or worries because of his recent
diabetes. Empathy was maintained throughout the communication process and this was
crucial to act as per the understanding and experience of patient. Terezam, Reis-Queiroz and
Hoga (2017) argue that empathy is crucial to recognize and validate patient’s fear and
anxiety. Such communication techniques can improve patient experience during care.
Another technique that was used to establish and maintain rapport with the client
included using the technique of mirroring to match patient’s demeanour and disposition.
Patient postured, breath sounds and energy level was noted to apply mirroring technique
during the interview. Such techniques facilitate building a synchronized bond with patient

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and assessing the psychological state of patient. Such techniques can help to identify level of
support needed by patients (Kern & Friedman, 2019).
Effective questioning:
While questioning client for the purpose of getting data on health history and
understanding its effect on current outcome of patient, several specific communication skills
was employed. Firstly, open ended questions were used to get clear data about the topic. For
example, some questions that were used during the interview include ‘What are some issues
that you would like to share with me? and ‘How are you dealing with your recent diagnosis
of diabetes?’ The significance of such open ended non directive question is that it encourages
patient to report about all problems and it does not restricts the conversation. Such
questioning technique allows the patient to talk spontaneously instead of restricting their flow
of information (Bakker‐van Gijssel et al., 2019).
The second questioning technique that was used was facilitation techniques. This
involves use of silence and using certain words to given the notion to patient that they are
interested in what they say. Such communication techniques like use of silence help to re-
experience patient emotions and give adequate time for reflection. This was followed by use
of adaptive questioning and summarization techniques during the interview. Adaptive
question involved starting with general question first and then making it more specific.
Paraphrasing statement is useful to avoid misinterpretation. Thus, use of the above techniques
ensured that the patient answered questions on health history on his own pace and elicited his
concerns transparently (Hashim, 2017).
Conclusion:

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From the analysis of the communication skills used health assessment interview, it
can be concluded that adapting communication techniques as per cultural values and personal
communication style of patient is effective in conducting a good assessment. Use of rapport
building skills like active listening, mirroring patient’s demeanour and showing empathy
makes patient comfortable and develop trust with the nurse, whereas use of appropriate
questioning skill facilitates getting clear response from patient without the need for additional
probing and interruptions.

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References:
Andrea, J., & Kotowski, P. (2017). Using standardized patients in an undergraduate nursing
health assessment class. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 13(7), 309-313.
Bakker‐van Gijssel, E. J., Lucassen, P. L., olde Hartman, T. C., Assendelft, W. J., & van
Schrojenstein Lantman‐de Valk, H. M. (2019). Constructing a health assessment
questionnaire for people with intellectual disabilities: A cognitive interview
study. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.
Brooks, L. A., Manias, E., & Bloomer, M. J. (2019). Culturally sensitive communication in
healthcare: A concept analysis. Collegian, 26(3), 383-391.
Crawford, T., Candlin, S., & Roger, P. (2017). New perspectives on understanding cultural
diversity in nurse–patient communication. Collegian, 24(1), 63-69.
Hashim, M. J. (2017). Patient-centered communication: basic skills. American family
physician, 95(1), 29-34.
Jahromi, V. K., Tabatabaee, S. S., Abdar, Z. E., & Rajabi, M. (2016). Active listening: The
key of successful communication in hospital managers. Electronic physician, 8(3),
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Kern, E., & Friedman, O. (2019). Avoiding the Unhappy Patient by Building Rapport in the
Internet Age. Facial Plastic Surgery, 35(02), 210-213.
Lorié, Á., Reinero, D. A., Phillips, M., Zhang, L., & Riess, H. (2017). Culture and nonverbal
expressions of empathy in clinical settings: A systematic review. Patient education
and counseling, 100(3), 411-424.

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Terezam, R., Reis-Queiroz, J., & Hoga, L. A. K. (2017). The importance of empathy in health
and nursing care.