“Im planning to interview the dentist I work with. I’ve always been fascinated with their ability to communicate with their patients on a daily basis. I would like to know a little more in regards to what lead them to go into a profession such as dentistry. What were the different anxiety’s he ever felt while in school trying to become a doctor. I think it’s important to ask what has kept him going so strong after 40 years in the profession. There’s so many changes that have happened throughout time and im sure it’s been hard trying to transition from an older preceptive to a newer one. I would like to also know where the confidence and ability to communicate with certain patients comes from. I know being in the health field can make it extremely difficult to communicate and deal with certain patients that aren’t having to good day. Certain issues like this can make a doctor’s day become a little longer and stressful. What examples would he give in order to deal with scenarios like this and how can we better enhance speaking up and portraying what we need to see in the correct form. Not only to benefit us but our patients as well.”
All health professionals must ask questions to learn the information they need in order to do their job. Though we may not all be health professionals today or ever, as part of health communication it is essential for us to be good at asking the right questions to get the right answers.
It is suggested that students limit their interview to 30 minutes (unless the interviewee requests more time) out of courtesy. The actual graded portion of the work is the 500 word summary of the interview to be posted online, written not as a direct transcript of the interview but also as a thoughtful analysis of the patterns the student observed and using creative ways to say more with less words. Use quotes from the interviewee to give basis for any observations/conclusions you might make, can also refer to the textbook for this. (CLO2, CLO3, CLO4). Watch the below video to get a comprehensive overview of this assignment.
