Transcripts of QOL Discussions from Recorded Encounters
| Conversation 1: |
| Provider: What can you not do because of your health problems today? |
| Patient: Uh, well, taking long trips. And, long walks. And that's about it. And working. |
| Provider: Why is that? |
| Patient: My back, the scoliosis. |
| Provider: How long ago were you diagnosed? |
| Patient: It's been some years I was born with it and I had rods in my back |
| Patient: And so that, let me see. At 13 years. Gotcha. 9 scoliosis surgeries due to congenital scoliosis and seizures since 2003. And what's your living situation? |
| Conversation 2: |
| Physician: There is nothing you cannot do because of your health problems, right? |
| Patient: No. Nothing is really stopping me. I mean, sometimes I recently started feeling. I guess it is side effects of the vitamin D deficiency like being really, really tired. Unbearably tired. Like in the middle of the day, barely being able to keep my eyes open tired. |
| Provider: Wow |
| Patient: And like last week it was the first week that it started to really like affect me. And I have been feeling these symptoms of stuff and I hadn't really felt them until just last week |
| Provider: Anything about last week that was you think was causing you to feel tired all the time? |
| Patient: Like social wise? |
| Provider: Yeah? |
| Patient: No, nothing. Regular week. |
| Provider: And have you been eating pretty normally? |
| Patient: Yes. |
| Provider: So, what happens to you when you get unbearably tired in the middle of the day? How do you deal with that? |
| Patient: I have to lay down or at least lay my head down |
| Provider: For how long? |
| Patient: Until I can manage to keep my eyes open. |
| Physician: How are you sleeping? |
| Patient: I wake up coughing and toss and turn all night. |
| Physician screens for sleep apnea and orders sleep study. |
QOL, quality-of-life discussion.