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Back to Module 3: Whole-Patient Assessment Why Assessment Skills are Important

Why Assessment Skills are Important

• Patients expect relief of suffering. This is as fundamental to the goals of medicine as cure or control of disease

• Assessment is key diagnostic tool to assess each dimension of suffering

• Assessment coordinates the team of health professionals

• Because the physician is the one who coordinates and directs care, it is important that the physician be able to assess each dimension of suffering


• However, the physician is unlikely to elicit a complete assessment working alone


• Other members of the health care team (such as nurses, social workers, and chaplains) can conduct important components of this assessment


• They bring unique skills to the task


• They may learn important information that the patient or family may not have shared with the physician

• Assessment can have therapeutic effects

• The physician can discuss with the patient or proxy the meaning of the information and his or her assessment of the patient’s situation


• This can help convey information to the patient regarding prognosis and the need for advance planning and personal preparation, particularly in the setting of overall deterioration


• Of equal importance, it conveys compassion


• It initiates the physician’s therapeutic role

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