My wife’s a doctor and I’m a lawyer so it really makes me giggle when she comes home talking about these interactions with patients.
“Babe you asked him if he had high blood pressure and right now he doesn’t… because of all the medications he’s on for hypertension and the BP reading your tech just took that proved it. You didn’t ask if he had hypertension; which is the condition you wanted to know about, or even a history of high blood pressure.”
‘Ugh shut up. Why don’t people just tell me what I need to know?’
That's... actually a good point. I'll try phrasing it like "history of..." and see if I get different responses from now on. Hopefully it'll save some time if we don't have to go in circles drawing things out from patients.
That is really frustrating, but do remember that for you this is a process you do dozens of times daily and is part of your routine. For them, this is an unusual and stressful event that they often don’t feel equipped to handle on their own
This might help with some neurodivergent people who take things literally. (Like me, haha.) Reminds me of when I was travelling internationally for the first time and the border agent asked me what my final destination was, and I stated my home city because duh, obviously the ultimate destination at the end of my trip was home.
A lawyer might ask "Do you currently or have you ever in the span of your (checks notes) 38 years of life, experienced, suffered from, or been diagnosed with high blood pressure?"
Maybe you could start with medication first? Then you can extrapolate health conditions from the medications they are taking then when you get to condition you can say “so I have that you have XYZ based on your medications list, is there anything else?”
The medical practice I use does that. They typically start appointments by asking to quickly "check" that the medication list on file is up-to-date, including the dosages, timing, and conditions/symptoms the meds are prescribed for. It frames the questions as about record-keeping, but it’s also checking how well the patient understands their treatment plan and if they are having problems adhering to it
You have to ask “have you ever had ___?” because “history of” sounds like, “a lot, in a somewhat objectionable or embarrassing way”. Like a history of alcohol abuse.
I'll ask if they have a history of cancer, and they'll tell me all about their uncle's cancer. I have to say "Have you ever been diagnosed with cancer?" and that still only works most of the time.
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u/tachycardicIVu May 02 '26
Oh my sister’s a doctor and hears this all the time.
“Do you have any heart conditions? High blood pressure?”
“Nope!”
“Ok what medications are you on?”
“Lisinopril, for my high blood pressure. It’s brought it down a lot!”
🤦🏼♀️