Angry mother

Finally got the chance to look over my communication skills video of my interviewing an angry mother (actually an actor). Basically, the story went that she’d discovered that her (15 year old) daughter had been prescribed the Pill. Rather than talking to her daughter about all this she stormed down to her GPs to find out what the hell the doc though he was doing, contraceptions of all things - “I mean she’s only 15!”.

Out of the 5 actors I could’ve picked that day, this was probably the worst. However, being the model student I am I’ve decided to learn from this event. Here follows my rules (in no particular order) for dealing with angry mothers with Pill-taking 15 year old daughters:

1. Apologise. They like that. Something such as “I’m sorry to see you’re upset about this”.
2. Be careful with confidentiality. Can’t even tell them whether their daughter attended the practice or not.
3. Never ever interrupt the ranting mother. If they really want to talk for minutes on end, let them. Follow by #1.
4. Explain, in general terms (watch #2) things like Gillick competence. The criteria for prescribing contraception to those under age (aka Fraser guidelines) are:
   1. the young person will understand the professional’s advice;
   2. the young person cannot be persuaded to inform their parents;
   3. the young person is likely to begin, or to continue having, sexual intercourse with or without contraceptive treatment;
   4. unless the young person receives contraceptive treatment, their physical or mental health, or both, are likely to suffer;
   5. the young person’s best interests require them to receive contraceptive advice or treatment with or without parental consent.

   Tell the mother these. First, make sure you know them (which I didn’t).

5. Don’t ask pointless questions about the mother.
6. Don’t accuse her of not being available to her daughter.
7. Don’t smile or laugh. Seriously, that’s a big no no.
8. Try not to think of the 8 people watching on camera who will probably be in fits of laughter. Should help with #7.
9. Do try and find out about the kind of mother/daughter relationship.
10. Do let her speak to the doctor at some point. She probably isn’t chuffed to be lumped with a medical student. Try not to take too long about this. The quicker you finish, the quicker she’s shouting at someone else.
11. If possible, try and get her to not shout at you or someone else.
12. Even better, try and get her to avoid throwing her handbag at you. All physical contact is something to avoid. Thankfully, actors aren’t likely to take a swing at students, even in Glasgow.
13. <more?>

I can feel the CPD (“holistic commitment to structured skills enhancement and personal or professional competence”) people idolising this post.

Hopefully I’ll do a better job when it’s not an actor.