patientinterviews

Patient interviews are a core method used by clinicians and researchers to collect information about a person’s medical history, current symptoms, medications, lifestyle, psychosocial context, and treatment preferences. They occur in clinical settings and as part of research protocols, helping to inform diagnosis, management plans, and study outcomes.

Interviews can be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured. Structured interviews use predetermined questions in a fixed order; semi-structured interviews follow a guiding framework with flexibility to probe relevant themes; unstructured interviews rely on open-ended conversation. Effective interviewing employs open-ended questions, active listening, empathy, reflective statements, and careful pacing to elicit comprehensive, accurate information while building rapport.

Conduct and ethics emphasize informed consent, confidentiality, and privacy. Interviewers should accommodate language and cultural differences, using interpreters when needed and avoiding coercion or judgment. Privacy should be ensured, and sensitive topics approached with sensitivity, allowing the patient to disclose at a comfortable pace. Documentation should be accurate and, when appropriate, integrated with patient-reported outcome measures or standardized history-taking templates.

Applications and limitations include clinical and research uses. In practice, interviews support diagnosis, risk assessment, treatment planning, and shared decision-making, while research interviews contribute to data on symptoms, functioning, and quality of life. Benefits include improved diagnostic accuracy, patient satisfaction, and adherence. Limitations involve time constraints, recall bias, social desirability bias, and variability in interviewer skill or patient willingness to disclose information.