My normally wiseass, constantly-commenting mouth had its own blackout today; I did my first patient history. And not even a real one at that. We’re currently in 3 jam-packed days of orientation, and our class split into groups to learn about some skills we’d be doing at our local volunteer clinics . I volunteered to play doctor, and take the “patient’s” history, and well, failed miserably.

Better now than with a real person, I guess, but I had no idea how difficult it would be to delve into a stranger’s life in the course of a couple minutes. My scenario was gathering a history of a young woman in a physically abusive marriage, but I didn’t know how to phrase things without sounding rude or intrusive. I got about as far asking her reason for visiting and her age, and then wasn’t sure how to proceed. I’ve been in somewhat-similar situations before as a Resident Assistant–sometimes you have to broach difficult topics, but at least you know the person you’re talking to. In the real world, you may have to quite-quickly ask a person about their sexual history, personal relationships, and private life. I’m sure it takes some time to adjust and get used to, but I had no idea how awkward a feeling it starts out as.

And this was just with someone pretending to be a patient–I can hardly imagine the real thing. And this was just the first day. Of orientation.

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