1)     Describe the key components of an effective medical interview. What specific skills are essential for establishing rapport with the patient and ensuring accurate information gathering?

The key components for an effective medical interview include, specifically, the environment, the sender (the patient, who presents their problem), the receiver (the doctor, who receives and analyzes the message), and the channel or medium through which the interview takes place. Among the specific skills that the doctor must master to ensure proper information gathering from the patient are language proficiency and communication skills. The doctor must use language appropriate to each patient, ensuring that the patient understands the questions and can respond adequately to each one.

2)     Consider a scenario where a patient is reluctant to share personal health information. What strategies would you employ during the interview to encourage openness and facilitate effective communication?

• Make a professional personal introduction.
• Create a trusting atmosphere during the interview by starting with casual, not overly formal, questions.
• Explain that medical confidentiality protects everything discussed in the interview.
• Emphasize the importance of answering questions truthfully, as it helps in making an accurate diagnosis and guiding the treatment.

3)     Describe the significance of auscultation during a physical examination. What specific techniques should be used when auscultating the heart and lungs, and what key findings would you listen for?

Auscultation is essential in physical examination to assess cardiac and pulmonary function. For the heart, the diaphragm and bell of the stethoscope should be used over the main auscultation areas, listening for normal and abnormal sounds such as murmurs or split heart sounds. For the lungs, both fields should be compared systematically to detect crackles, wheezes, or rhonchi, which may indicate conditions like pneumonia or asthma. A systematic approach and accurate interpretation of these findings are crucial for diagnosis and clinical management.

1)     Explain the importance of inspecting the skin during a physical examination. What specific signs or abnormalities should you look for, and how might these findings guide your differential diagnosis?

It is important because it can detect abnormalities that suggest malignant or benign neoplasia. Skin cancer spreads very easily to many parts of the body. Moles with poorly defined borders that constantly grow are examples of signs of neoplasia. Other pathologies can also be diagnosed, such as atopic dermatitis through eczema with dry skin, or insect bites through signs such as a rash with redness, swelling, and fever, or reactive dermatitis due to allergies, with signs such as eczema with irregular borders limited to the contact area. The skin is highly reactive to various diseases, and because of this, there is a broad specialty dedicated to its study: dermatology.

Group work, Members: 

• Cristhian Carlos Coronel Castillo
• Eric Alexander Garzón Pichucho
• Ronald Fabricio Valdivieso Jaramillo
• Marco Sebastián Villarroel Castillo