Clinical Skills History Taking Techniques

Health Generation IndiaThis topic is of more importance to the medical professionals and the medical students. Other populace may read this article from interest point of view.History taking  An important asset to the physicianThe history of a patient is a bridge in between the patient and prescription, facilitating the doctor to understand the depths of the troubles of the person in disease with all the important aspects of the disease.History taking should allow the patient to describe in his own words about his illness without frequent interruption from the doctor. The doctor should also encourage the patient, show an interest in the words of the patient and keeness to listen and understand the illness of the patient and also have sympathy towards his sufferings.The significance of history taking increases as the doctor must understand the smallest of things which may become the reason towards the suffering of the person in disease.Importance of the art of history taking of the complaints of the patient lies not only in hearing the troubles of the patient but also in the understanding of the way they describe their complaints. A variety of expressions on the face tell us about the mood of the patient, the distress, the frustation, the anger of his troubles, the voice tells us about the tiredness, the week and fatigueness the patient is experiencing, the gestures and the urge to be back to normalcy.Other important factors to consider are family history which gives us information about the diseases which may be transferred through genes and thus may lead to genetic, congenital and hereditary diseases a person may suffer from.Social history also gives us important clues as to what are the habits of the person in society  like smoking, drinking, addiction, eating habits, also about the temperament of the person and how he deals with certain situations. Although this information may seem discreet, it also helps in forming a base picture and how a person may need to be dealth with.History taking helps in developing a bond of mutual trust in between the patient and the physician and thus helps in opening up the hidden things which a person may not tell to anybody else. Again, it helps the doctor in appreciating the depth of the patients illness and also in meeting the patients expectation from t he physician and the medical care system.