What do you do when your patient starts crying when you ask about his family history, because someone died recently?

What if it's at the 10 minute mark in your final exams and you only have 5 minutes left to ask all the (*^@#&^$@%& questions?

What do you do?


At any rate I just handed him some tissues and water and consolidated what I had.

I think it is very hard to understand some things unless you have experienced it personally or by proxy. Empathy is one thing, but understanding is another.