[Interview training for patient history inquiry at the first prenatal examination: a pilot project at a women's...

In view of the relevance of preventive examinations to health policy and the prophylactic value of the first meeting between physician and patient, the efficiency which which patients' histories are taken--and hence overall prenatal care--should be improved. The method adopted by duty physicians at the prenatal outpatient clinic of a community hospital furnishes an example. The examination was subdivided into four phases: 1. documentation of the current state of communication between doctor and patient (tape recordings, participatory observation, interviewing the patients and the duty physicians); 2. analysis of the interviews and the participatory observation, linguistic analysis of the history discussions; 3. topic-centered communication training of the duty physicians involved, on the basis of their own tape recordings; 4. feedback, verification of efficiency, and transfer of results to routine practice in the prenatal clinic. As early as in the fourth session changes in behavior and an increased awareness of problem areas in the course of the discussion were noted among the duty physicians. The program has proved easy to implement in practice. It enhances communication and identification for the junior physicians, and has had a highly positive overall effect.