Are you confused about how to find out information and ask questions in the OET role play?
Watch this video where we show you how.
Hi I'm Jo from Specialist Language Courses, here to help you pass your OET exam. In today's
video we're going to look at one of the clinical communication criterias of information gathering,
we will look at what this criteria means and how to improve in this area,
don't forget to check out our website we've got the perfect OET preparation course for you.
What does information gathering mean? To score well in this area you need to show that you can
use active listening techniques without any unnecessary interruptions,
use appropriate questions, clarify vague information or discover more
details and summarise the patient's response to check and encourage further information.
Let's take a closer look at active listening. Active listening means showing the patient that
you are listening to what they are saying and providing feedback, listen carefully to what
they are saying and you can add things like uh-huh, I see, Okay, to show this.
Let's have a look at this in context.
Patient: Well it all just happened so quickly really. The dog came out of
nowhere and just attacked me. So, I didn’t really know what to do.
Nurse: It must have been quite a shock.
Patient: Yes, it was. I was close to my friend’s
house and I went there and tried to stop the bleeding.
Nurse: I see
Patient: But, it won’t stop so I’m guessing it’s going to need stitches..
Nurse: Ok. So let’s just have a look...
You also need to use questions appropriately to gather information,
you should begin with open questions and then move on to close questions if necessary.
Let's begin by taking a look at open questions.
It's a good idea to use them initially and discover information
from the patient's perspective and experience,
look at these examples, which questions do you think are open questions?
That's right, the first column.
Can you tell me a little bit about how it happened?
Could you tell me about your diet? Would you mind telling me more about your pain?
By using the open questions here, we can give the patient the opportunity to share
the information from their point of view. Let's compare this to the closed questions.
Did it happen this afternoon? Do you eat a balanced diet?
When did the pain start?
These questions would allow the patient to give very specific
information which would be more appropriate later in the interaction.
Let's take a look at closed questions. It's a good idea to use them after finding out
about the patient's experience to find more specific information, for example:
Can you rate your pain from 0-10?
Does anything relieve the pain? Have you taken any medication for it?
Have you noticed anything which triggers your asthma?
So next we're going to look at the type of questions you should avoid
during your OETspeaking exam.
Compound questions are when we use two questions in one, for example:
How much exercise do you do and can you tell me about your diet?
Can you tell me how you manage your son’s eczema and what your GP prescribed for him?
By using compound questions it may become confusing for the patient or important
information may be missed, you also need to avoid using leading questions. A leading question is
when you are guiding the other person towards a certain answer, here we have some examples:
So would you say you don’t do much exercise?
Would you say it’s getting worse? Is it a throbbing pain?
Instead, it would be better to say:
Can you tell me about how much exercise you do?
Have you noticed any other changes in your symptoms?
How would you describe the pain?
Now we're going to take a look at clarification. Many candidates feel
nervous about clarifying things in the OET exam because they feel it might affect their score,
however it's really important to clarify things if you're unsure during the speaking.
Here we have some examples of how you can do this.
Ok, I would just like to check that I have understood correctly.
This is the first time that this has happened, is that right?
Sorry I didn’t quite catch that. Could you tell me again what you did after she burned herself?
Another technique you can use in the OET role play is summarising the information the patient
has just told you back to them to confirm the information, let's take a look at some examples.
Ok. So, you said that this is your dad’s first dialysis treatment today.
Can I ask what you know about dialysis?
I see. So, what is worrying you the most is what to do if
you have another asthma attack after you’ve been discharged.
This also gives the opportunity to encourage the patient to correct information or add any other
information that they wish. Now let's take a look at a sample OET roll card and put into practice
some of the things we've talked about so far. Look at the first two tasks on the roll card,
think about how you could use an open question at the start
and is there an opportunity to summarise information to check in the second point?
Here are some examples.
Could you tell me how it happened?
I see. So, just to check, you have some concerns about healing and scaring, is that right?
In preparation for your speaking exam,
there are some things you can do to help with the information gathering criterion.
It's a good idea to observe how active listening is used in effective interviews or role plays,
it's also very important to practice your questioning technique so that you feel confident
using open and closed questions appropriately, as well as avoiding compound and leading questions.
In preparation, create a functional language bank for interrupting politely
and asking for clarification. Sample OET role play videos could be good for this,
or also Matthew Smith's YouTube channel which has trainee GP role plays
is a great resource for analysing natural use of language in a healthcare context.
Top tips for information gathering. Use your preparation time well
and make notes on your roll card about where you can use questions in the interaction
and what type of question you need to use. Watch and learn from good
examples to see how active listening and summarising are done effectively
finally, don't be afraid to ask for clarification, it's important that misunderstandings are avoided.
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out our website and see how we can help you with your OET preparation, see you next week, bye!