Lesson 3.1 — The Anxious Patient
Anxiety often makes candidates over-reassure. Strong RTO means understanding the feared outcome, assessing safely, explaining uncertainty honestly and giving the patient a plan for what happens next.
Case 7 — Repeated fear of cancer
A patient has low-risk symptoms but repeatedly asks whether this could be cancer.
“But are you sure it isn’t cancer?”
“No, don’t worry, I’m sure it’s fine.”
“I can hear that the possibility of cancer is still worrying you. Can I check what part of that feels most frightening?”
This reveals whether the concern is driven by family experience, symptom interpretation, a previous missed diagnosis or uncertainty itself.
Give proportionate reassurance: what is reassuring, what cannot be guaranteed, what you will do, and what changes should trigger review.
Understand the fear → explain what is reassuring → acknowledge uncertainty → give a concrete plan → safety-net.