First entry (fourth year neuro)

Situation On my first day I was introduced to a patient with Multiple Sclerosis who had been admitted to Well-tel that same day. The patient had undergone Botox treatment five days prior to his admission and was accessing the Well-tel service to maximise the effectiveness of the Botox, via intensive physiotherapy.
Task My supervisor had asked me to complete a thorough subjective assessment on the patient. The patient’s medical records had not yet been received so the subjective assessment would have to be both thorough and accurate.
Action I spent one hour conducting a subjective assessment with the patient.
Result After completing the assessment I had a fair understanding of the patients presenting condition, history of presenting complaint, past medical history and social history. I also felt I had built a strong rapport with the patient.
Evaluation I believe my subjective assessment was effective in retrieving most of the desired information. I felt I adopted appropriate communication skills for the patient’s personality and it was because of this that a strong rapport was built between the patient and me. However, several times throughout the assessment I was conscious that I was interrupting the patient and trying to finish his sentences. I devoted time throughout the assessment for informal conversation which I believed erased any patient-therapist tension. My assessment was not as thorough as I would have liked and this was mostly due to my lack of planning. The lack of planning also meant the assessment had little structure which could have been both confusing and irritating for the patient.
Strategies The main lesson I learnt from this experience was to spend time planning any assessment, rather then jumping straight in and doing it. Having a clear plan will guarantee that I collect all the necessary information and ensure time is not wasted in future sessions filling in gaps from the initial assessment. I also need to make a concerted effort not too interrupt patients when they are talking as I can imagine it would be quite irritating.