Ask the person … |
for consent before using her or his first name if she or he is comfortable with eye contact how she or he communicates and says yes and no if she or he would like the support worker to stay in the room for all or part of the examination
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Advise the caregivers … |
that you will speak directly to the patient throughout the interview that it is important that you connect with the patient and build trust and rapport that you will tell the patient when you understand and when you do not understand to please listen to the conversation as if you were speaking to them to please fill in gaps if they can when you glance at them
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Assess by … |
being curious asking testing questions throughout the interview and looking for a response using humour as a test—a smile can mean the patient is listening! persisting in your curiosity over time; anxiety plays a big role, and it might take several visits before the patient relaxes
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Augment by … |
using the patient’s communication tools, as well as pictures and gestures pointing out body parts or miming (eg, checking ears) spending time explaining the physical examination encouraging the use of the patient’s communication tools across environments considering the high rates of hearing (50%) and vision (40%) impairments—screen for them and adjust your communication accordingly
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Allow time … |
to build rapport and attune to the person to address emotions in the communication triad and gaps in information for the patient to respond (10 s for those with receptive or expressive delay) to check in on what the patient and caregiver understood to provide written communication of the management plan, with visual cues in keeping with the level of health literacy
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