Clinical Techniques in Pediatric Rheumatology

Abstract

Therapy begins when the doctor greets the patient at the doorstep and continues as the history is taken. The interview should be a constructive experience for the patient and the family, clearly indicating the physician’s compassionate interest in them and in the details of the problem that has brought them. The parents and older child are the physician’s allies in working out the problem; it is a joint undertaking. Skillful interviewing with a thorough approach to organization and analysis of detail in the effort to ascertain just what is wrong and what steps are needed to further define or treat the problem convinces the family they are in good hands and encourages cooperation.