Station 5
Mark Anderson
Age: 65 years old male
Patient
Patient's Story (Role player’s brief)
Patient’s Story
You are Mark Anderson, a 65-year-old man. You’ve been feeling more short of breath than usual for the past 4 days, along with a wheezy chest and a persistent cough. The cough is bringing up brownish phlegm and just isn’t settling.
You’ve not had any fever or chest pain, and you were feeling completely fine before this started.
You don’t have any other symptoms.
Social history: You smoke about 40 cigarettes a day and don’t drink alcohol. You live alone—your wife sadly passed away from breast cancer 3 years ago. However, you currently have a girlfriend
You’ve had a COPD flare-up once before, around 6 months ago, and needed steroids at that time.
You believe you might need antibiotics and have booked this appointment to get help. You’re currently staying with a friend who lives about 9 miles from the surgery, so getting in for a face-to-face appointment would be difficult right now.
Ideas: You think this might be another flare-up of COPD, similar to the one he had 6 months ago.
Concerns: You are worried that the symptoms aren’t settling and might get worse if left untreated.
Expectations: You are hoping to be prescribed antibiotics and/or steroids to help manage the flare remotely and feels reassured if something can be done without needing to come in.
When the doctor explains the diagnosis to you: volunteer the below
Tell the doctor that your girlfriend—who also has COPD—gave you a finger oxygen monitor to check your levels. You used it this morning and it read 92%.