good way to start a conversation w/ patient

Honesty and Door-Openers.

If you really look over a person, I mean really look at what's there, somewhere on them -- it can be clothing, personal belongings, jewelry, even an expression in the moment or a movement -- you will find something that interests you. It can be related to the person's complaints of the moment or have only to do with stuff that makes them different from you.

Comment on it and then ask something to learn more;

"That's an unusual necklace, where did you find that?"
(DON'T ask about expensive jewelry, they'll think you're casing them!)
"Your slippers remind me of ones I had as a kid. Were they a gift or did you buy them for yourself?"
"You grimaced. Did I jostle something sensitive?"
Since you're a medic, why not ask about a fairly benign scar?

The point is, something that honestly interests you AND opens the door for the person to speak about themselves, as mentioned earlier in the thread.
 
You could do it like almost everyone at my station and just walk in, tower over them with your hands crammed in your pockets and a disinterested look and say "Haaaay sug/sweetheart/honey/buddy/brotha whaz going on today?" and when they answer you can reply "Weeeelll when did all dis start, sweetie/buddy?"

I know I am still new to EMS, but let me beg you now, for the sake of the profession and how we're viewed by pts and peers ... please do this part at least sort of by the book? Please? :sad:

Every Medic at my station is competent, patient, and caring. A couple of them are awesome. Simply awesome. And some of them will bend over backwards to teach motivated Basics, too. I love them and I know I am lucky. But daaaaayum our bedside manner needs an update.
 
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Sir/Mam, good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, I believe you meant to call ABC Taxi.


> Can you walk?
< Yeah kinda...
>Get in, last one in the truck gets stuck with the bill

:lol:
 
I had an 82 YOF last week who had a problem with her home O2 and was clearly upset about it. I saw that she had a Boston Terrier. Working with the "hey we have something in common" angle, I started talking about how my father in law used to breed them.

Well it only took me a few seconds to realize that I was talking too much. And I had to silently remind myself that the whole reason I brought it up in the first place was to hear from her not me!
 
firetender said:
If you really look over a person, I mean really look at what's there, somewhere on them -- it can be clothing, personal belongings, jewelry, even an expression in the moment or a movement -- you will find something that interests you. It can be related to the person's complaints of the moment or have only to do with stuff that makes them different from you.

Comment on it and then ask something to learn more;

"That's an unusual necklace, where did you find that?"
(DON'T ask about expensive jewelry, they'll think you're casing them!)
"Your slippers remind me of ones I had as a kid. Were they a gift or did you buy them for yourself?"
"You grimaced. Did I jostle something sensitive?"
Since you're a medic, why not ask about a fairly benign scar?

The point is, something that honestly interests you AND opens the door for the person to speak about themselves, as mentioned earlier in the thread.
Click to expand...

This is also a good skill for getting a date.
 
How do you strike up a conversation with a classmate or just someone at a local coffee shop? You're both people... you just happen to be at the same place at the same time and you just happen to have a provider/patient relationship. Conversate and do your medical conversation as you come to it.

I usually just introduce myself and "I'm your friendly neighborhood Paramedic for the day..." Then I confirm their name... and conversate from there.

It's an art form, really. There's no real set rule about how to do it... just don't do it badly. Well, even that could be a way to start a conversation. ;) "Hi... I'm really horrible at remembering names... including mine. What's yours?"

If you need a conversation boot camp, find a local comedy sportz team or comedy club. Take a class in improvisational comedy... seriously. Improv is a great way to learn about striking up conversations. Barring that, hang out a your local coffee shop. Get some coffee, talk to people waiting for their coffee while you wait for yours... or while you're putting cream/sugar in your brew... stuff like that. You'd be amazed that people will respond to you, usually in a good way. They're people too...

Bad ways to strike up a conversation... Just like Clint Eastwood reminding the Orangutan in "Every Which Way but Loose"... No kissin, cussin, or picking your @**. Don't do it in front of someone you want to meet or talk to...
 
Talking with a pt. is a very important thing to do. It makes the pt. think of you as a human being and may become more comfortable with you and be more willing to give you information about their ailment. It also tells your pt that you care about them and don’t just see them as another transport. It may also make the pt. more relaxed and take their mind off what’s happening if only for a moment. The best way I have found to start a conversation with a pt. is to just ask them how they’re doing or what they do for work or where they go to school. I have found that having a conversation with your pts really works to your advantage.
 
In some of ouR paperwork it will give their job description before they retired or whatever. So if they are alert and the elderly mans paperwork says bricklayer, I will say something along the lines of: With hands as torn up as yours, you must have been a bricklayer... And they will get excited and tell me all about how they worked from 1959-1973, took a year off and started working again in 1974...yada yada yada....

Or if they are a VA patient, I will ask if they were in the Navy, most will sit up, get mad and say hell no I wasnt a p**** sailor, I was a Marine...haha No offense Navy guys!

Usually strikes up a convo.
 
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