As a doctor, when you encounter a new patient, the foremost thing you need is to do is elicit the maximum and relative information about your patient and their problem so that you can come to a final verdict of treatment and medications. Here are a few questions that you should ask your new patients.
1. What is your matter of concern?
After greeting your patient, the first question you should ask them should be about their matter of concern which brought them to you. Do listen to whatever your patient tells you about their problem because you can find important information in any part. Don’t rush them to finish it as soon as possible or just tell precisely because they would then hesitate to speak openly about their condition and symptoms. Make your patient comfortable around you and extract from them all the necessary information that you can.
2. Do you have any medical or surgical history?
When a new patient comes to you for their checkup, there are a lot of things that you need to know about them and one important thing is their medical and surgical history. As a doctor, you should ask this to your new patient in order to know whether they have had any medical tests, surgery or have they been admitted in a hospital before. If they have any medical records then you would have to deal with them and treat them by keeping all the previous details in mind but, if it’s their first time then you can start the treatment right away.
3. Are you on medication right now?
If your patient is currently on medications, then you should know what those are. Ask your patients about any prescribed medicines that they are taking, also ask them if they are taking herbal or over-the-counter medications as these make an impact too. It would be a plus point if your patient has brought along their previous prescription so, don’t forget to ask about it because it would be super helpful.
4. Tell something about your lifestyle?
You should not only keep your focus on the problem and symptoms that your patients are suffering through. You should also know about their lifestyle because there are several health issues that arise due to improper or unhealthy lifestyle. So, interrogate your patient about their daily routine and their habits. Moreover, get to know if they have any drugs or smoking addiction.
5. Are you prone to any allergy?
Another important question you should be asking your new patient must be about their allergies. There are several types of allergies and it is essential to ask about it because some people are allergic to a few drugs as well. This piece of information will help you in prescribing your patients the medications which aren’t harmful to them.
Also, if they need any medical knowledge or ask about something like what is DICOM software or medical imaging used for, you should explain it to them casually.
The reason is they may be hesitated to do an MRI or any other scan and if you explain them what is medical imaging used for, what is MRI, and other similar stuff, they would feel for comfortable.
Conclusion
Doctors send their entire day asking patients several questions but when it comes to examining new patients, you should definitely not forget to ask the above-mentioned questions.
