ABSTRACT
Doctors and health professionals are held in high esteem by the general populace due to their ability to piece together patients’ complaints in order to arrive at a diagnosis. Such diagnoses may range from a trivial cold to a potentially life-threatening cancer. Explaining medical conditions requires the practitioner to have a good basic knowledge about the diagnosis, as well as the ability to communicate and simplify complex medical jargon into language that is easily understandable. The clinician will also have to be empathic and be ready to manage a variety of emotional responses that the patient may have. The focus of the consultation was on information gathering from the patient, the emphasis in this skill centres around the ability to impart medical information concisely to the patient. Patients attend their doctor with preconceived ideas about the symptoms they are suffering.
