Play The Doctor: Four Clinical Situations

A physician interviewing or examining a patient may find him/herself in a professional clinical situation that the doctor had not experienced previously or even thought about and at once must decide how to respond to the situation in a manner which is ethical and professional and hopefully constructive and even of therapeutic value.  I have challenged my second year medical students to a discussion about how they would handle each of the four clinical situations  listed below.  Now I would like to challenge my blog visitors to do the same. Pretend that you are the doctor of the scenario and suddenly faced the patient's response. What would you do next? ..Maurice.

• 1) You ask the father of a child patient whether there are guns in the household and the father becomes angry and says "it's none of your business!"  
• 2) You are a male physician and your female patient of a few visits now says "I have taken a liking to you.  Can we go out tonight together for supper." 
• 3) You are trying to take the patient's medical history and the patient repeatedly returns to talking about different symptoms which his cousin is experiencing.  
• 4) You are attempting to perform a physical exam on a young but adult patient  and every time you touch the patient, the patient is repeatedly squirming around and giggling and responding "I'm very ticklish."