Healthcare Provider, Interview Example

Interview with Dr. J. Murphy. The Heart Center – Huntsville, Alabama

The interview with Dr. Murphy, a practitioner at the Heart Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. The interview with Dr. Murphy took place via telephone interview on March 1, 2012. Dr. Murphy was asked questions concerning his experiences with communication, communication strategies and interpersonal communication related to the demands of his job. Dr. Murphy expressed that communication is critically important in his work both with other medical personnel in his area of practice as well as with patients and the families of patients. Dr. Murphy further related that he is constant contact with other such heart doctors comparing new treatment options and their effectiveness as well as consulting and advising other medical heart practitioners.

Dr. Murphy stated that when a patient first comes to the Heart Center that they have usually experienced their first heart attack or issue with their heart and that generally the patients are at this point in time, not only nervous but many of them do not want to believe that they have developed a heart condition. He expresses that the first visit involves more listening than talking as he is gaining the patient’s health history and lifestyle particulars. The second visit generally takes place after a thorough round of testing and this is when Dr. Murphy explains to the patient precisely what is wrong with their heart and what treatment options are available to the patient. This visit generally involves speaking with the individual’s spouse or significant other or maybe even the patient’s children. Dr. Murphy explains that he is always careful to remember that facts about heart conditions which are quite simply ‘old hat’ to him are new concepts and facts to the heart patient and their families and that he always takes time to explain things to them so that they are assured that they are receiving not only his full attention but the wealth of his knowledge in this area of practice so that they feel they are in competent hands.

Dr. Murphy states that in his line of work that the strategies that he uses when communicating with nurses at the Health Center and hospitals to which his practice extends is that he, as a doctor, should by example in the way he communicates with his subordinates demonstrate the proper and optimal communication methods for personal professional communication. Dr. Murphy expresses that in emergencies that many times he is by necessity short with those assisting him in treating his patients. He explains that later, after the critical phase of treatment has passed, that he always tries to go back to those whom he cut short and explain that it was not personal or intended but due to the nature of the emergency and optimizing time when a patient’s life is at stake.

When asked the question of what is the most difficult type of communication that he has experienced he answered by stating that it was when he had to deliver bad news to a patient or their family. The example stated by Dr. Murphy was a case in which the patient was too weak to undergo a heart bypass that would save their life, if they were only strong enough, while knowing that without the procedure that the patient has only weeks to live. Dr. Murphy related that excellent communication skills are very critical for anyone in the medical profession due to the nature of the information that they are relating to their patients, families of patients and other health care practitioner. Dr. Murphy states that he learned early on that it does not pay to take shortcuts in communicating in his field because pertinent and precise facts related in an effective manner serve to avoid problems later with both his colleagues in the work environment and with patients and their family members.