Key Intake Skills for Accurate Diagnosis

Key Intake Skills for Accurate Diagnosis is organized by Healthy Seminars and will be held on Feb 20, 2026.

Description:
When a patient walks into our clinic, we have the power to shape the encounter so that we can generate a rapport, express our compassion, AND get the information we need to do our work well. Often, efficiency and warmth feel mutually at odds with each other. We think that if I am efficient, I might be cold, but if I take the time to connect with people warmly, it will take way too much time. After 40-plus years of practice, Sharon has honed these skills so that the intake process is streamlined, efficient, and warmly connected. If we consider efficiency and warmth a y?n-yáng pair, then we know that they are mutually dependent on each other.
In this course, Sharon will help resolve the unnecessary separation of y?n-yáng that divides efficiency and warmth.

Additionally, Sharon will help practitioners understand what questions and explorations are essential, how to ask them, and how they guide our final diagnosis.

Sharon will address the following critical areas:

• The foundational role of looking for diagnosis according to Zh?ng Zhòngj?ng
• The importance of understanding the subtleties of thirst, why it is sometimes difficult to get clear information about thirst, and how to get this information.
• The vital importance of digging into urination beyond “how is your urination?” What questions do we need to ask to understand a patient’s fluid metabolism fully? How are thirst and urination intimately intertwined?
• Asking about poops, knowing what helps you diagnose, and details you can ignore.
• Asking about the experience of eating, what it feels like to people, and how this can guide your diagnosis. Asking about cravings, sensitivities, fullness, and the nature of discomfort.

Goals & Objectives:

• To resolve the y?n-yáng separation between efficiency and warmth
• To give concrete clinical skills in gathering information during an intake
• To understand how our questioning helps fill in our diagnosis.