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taken when the origin of the symptoms in unknown (e.g. swollen
glands) and could be attributed to any number of illnesses. However,
quite often a doctor will be required to take a more focused PMH.
This depends on the nature of the symptoms: if the patient has been in
a road accident and is suffering a broken collar bone, then certain
questions may not be necessary. However, student doctors are encour-
aged to practise taking a complete PMH when they begin their clinical
training so as not to miss important information.
It is essential to obtain full details of all
the drugs and medica-
tions
taken by the patient. Not infrequently patients forget to mention,
or forget the name of, drugs they take. Some may be over-the-counter
remedies unknown to the general practitioner. The significance of oth-
ers, such as herbal remedies or laxatives, may not be appreciated by
the patient. It is necessary to determine the precise identity of the
drug, the dose used, the frequency of administration and the patient’s
compliance or lack of it. It is important to ask about known drug aller-
gies or suspected drug reactions and to record the information on the
front of the notes to be obvious to any doctor seeing the patient. Fail-
ure to ask the question or to record the answer properly may be lethal.
Family history (FH)
. Obtaining a history of the patient’s family
members (generally three generations) is important for two reasons.
Firstly, the patient may be suffering from a genetically determined
disease (e.g. hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, rheuma-