At a follow up visit with my son, the first provider ushered us into the room asking leading questions like, “You haven’t had any pain recently?” and so on.
The other provider came in the room asking: “You’re not having any pain?” “You were able to play sports no problem all season?” “It doesn’t hurt when I press here?” and so on.
When they left the room I commented on this “negative question” practice to my son and asked him if he’s comfortable answering whether he agrees or disagrees. He got annoyed with me and said, “Mom, they all talk like that, except for the PT – she doesn’t do that” (I had to include that last part – yay, PT!!).
Aside from the fact that I do a lot of debriefing with my kids after health care visits (ugh), WHAT?? Why do “all of them” do this? We got talking about it last night and I suggested that it makes visits go faster. If they asked open ended questions (like we teach and discuss in class all the time!) patients could take a long time answering and explaining their situation/experience. I get that. My husband thinks it’s purposeful – they are trying to force people to contradict them, so to speak. So if the provider says, “you’re not having any pain?” the patient would have to say, “actually, I am having pain.” That seems a little twisted.
Whatever it is, we – the providers – need to stop. And we – the patients – need to be prepared and comfortable answering honestly and completely, regardless of how it’s asked. I recommend that providers simply state up front, “I only have 15 minutes with you today, so I’d like to get as much information as I can.” Then ask, “Are you having any pain?” etc.