Product Description

This comprehensive text provides medical students and junior doctors with a valuable revision and reference tool when preparing to take a patient's history. Key features of this title are as mentioned below. Symptoms-based approach - this text adopts a unique symptoms-based approach, whereby each chapter starts with a presenting complaint from a patient and allows the reader to practise history taking in a real-life scenario. Case scenarios - a number of practice scenarios can be found at the end of the text, allowing the reader to practise history taking prior to examinations and seeing real patients on the wards and is also a valuable form of self-assessment. Asking difficult questions - a section on how to ask difficult questions and present cases succinctly, correctly and professionally is included for the benefit of the reader.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160882 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

Review
"As history taking is such a vital part of medicine, it is great to find a book that is dedicated entirely to it. This easy to read book provides good guidance on what can be a very challenging area for medical students and is a very useful resource for those revising for exams." Sarah Cassidy, Fourth Year student at Liverpool University

From the Publisher
Each chapter describes the types of questions that the doctor or student should enquire about when taking the history from a patient for a particular presenting complaint. That is not to say that all histories should conform to a definite, consistent structure every time, but rather it highlights the sort of information that should be gathered from the patient, either through open-ended discussion, or through direct questioning, in order to reach a correct diagnosis. Indeed, history taking should still be seen as a fluid patient-led, doctor-steered exercise that cannot be learnt in a robotic fashion. However, this book would be particularly useful in examination preparation, in addition to being a useful adjunct on the wards, as in the former high-pressured scenario the student or doctor is usually expected to make a rapid diagnosis, based on the history alone, in just a few minutes.

From the Author
In view of the importance of history taking in the medical school curriculum and in continued medical education, we have chosen to dedicate an entire book to the subject of history taking. While most current textbooks discuss history taking in a general context, as in our chapter "The Structural Basis of History Taking", we have decided to shape the acquisition of history-taking skills around 64 core topics which are common presentations amongst patients in both general practice and hospital settings, but are also topics frequently encountered by students and doctors in undergraduate and postgraduate examinations. In addition, because patients present to their doctors with symptoms, rather than with diseases, this book adopts a unique symptoms-based approach rather than the classic disease-based approach. This is an entirely new approach in medical education.

Customer Reviews

fantastic book
This book is essential for all medical students, there are no other books out there in the market, that teaches students how to take a proper and thorough history, which is the most important way of finding out the diagnosis. It is a must for all book shelves!

Recommend it!
I recently used history taking in medicine and surgery for my medical and surgical finals. I found it extremely useful. I am about to start work as a FY1 and having used this book i feel a lot more confident. I recommend this book to all medical students. It a great way to prepare for exams and it is one of those books that i shall be keeping rather than getting rid of now my exams are over.

Fantastic!
This book is invaluable for revision for medical school exams and is an extremely useful aid for use on the wards. I wouldn't have passed my recent exams without it! This book should be an essential part of any medical student's library collection.