accurate pediatric history

accurate pediatric history

Building a Health History

Thorough and accurate pediatric history is a challenging and very important to children’s wellbeing that allows nurses and patients to establish a nurse-patient therapeutic relationship. History building is also essential in the interpretation of physical examination (Ball et al., 2019). Completing a comprehensive health history and physical examination is a tool used to document patient medical history, physical examination findings, and diagnosis (Sullivan, 2019). Using good communication skills to obtain this information is very important as communication creat a positive patient relationship. In other to develop this positive patient relationship, the nurse practitioner needs to build on courtesy, connection with the patient/guardian, ensure comfort and provide an opportunity for confirmation of what has been discussed to ensure understanding (Ball et al., 2019). Performing an assessment and history taking in children can bring upon anxiety, so practitioners should try to ease the anxiety by making sure the child is in the room with the parent, especially preschoolers (Ball et al., 2019).

Interview and Communication Techniques

Children in rural areas face risk factors that are particular to their demographic features. Children living in rural areas are more at risk for health and developmental conditions. Performing an assessment and history taking in children can bring upon anxiety, so practitioners should try to ease the anxiety by making sure the child is in the room with the parent, especially preschoolers (Ball et al., 2019). Gaining confident and building practitioner-patient–caregivers relationship that is based on trust is very important as it facilitates with data collection (Mărginean et al., 2017). The practitioner should be empathetic as this will improve communication, be an active listener and observer to pick up any cues that patients might not share like grimacing, use open-ended questions. The use of questionnaire is encouraged too where the parent fills it out and by freely writing down patient concerns without having to answer the questions in person (Ball et al., 2019).