History Taking in Clinical Practice | PDF Download

Description:

This book provides a simplified guide to history taking by assessing each symptom in detail, highlighting what key questions are important to ask, and which key differentials are essential to rule out. The chapters are well presented and organised in a logical manner, utilising an easily accessible and user-friendly format for solid learning on focused history taking that includes both general and specific information gathering.

History Taking in Clinical Practice includes case-based examples throughout as well as short exercises to enhance learning. GPs, junior doctors and medical students seeking an effective approach to history taking will find this book to be an essential resource for daily clinical practice and exam preparation.

Foreword

I always found history taking the trickiest skill to learn in medical school. Yet, it is the most important skill you will learn as a clinician.

As a medical student and even during my GP training, I found that learning history taking by grouping it into symptoms was very effective. When I became a clinical tutor, I taught my students using this technique and the feedback received was excellent. This was where the idea for this book came from. I want this book to be your guide as you learn about the different physiological systems and specialities.

When you take a history, you want to exclude anything urgent or any condition that can harm the patient quickly. Once you exclude this, then you need to think about other common conditions which could present with that symptom. The questions you ask in the history need to actively confirm or refute these diagnoses. There are tables interspersed within this book where I will ask you to write down key differential diagnoses for each of the common presenting complaints. Use this as your guide when thinking about scenarios and how to approach them.

The aim of this book is not to teach you everything about each and every clinical condition, and you will need to read around these conditions. However, I want you to familiarise yourself with what kinds of conditions you need to think about when presented with a symptom. The best way to know if you’ve understood everything is to practice, practice, practice. I have put in some patient examples to discuss, as well as some example OSCE stations at the back of the book. Before we start, I think it is important to revisit the basics of history taking.