Any time you see a new doctor, one of the first things they’ll ask about is your medical history. That’s because everything from the aftermath of childhood diseases to the side effects of current medications can influence which treatments you’re offered for new conditions and how effective they might be.
Full Answer
Why is it important to obtain a medical history?
Obtaining a medical history can reveal the relevant chronic illnesses and other prior disease states for which the patient may not be under treatment but may have had lasting effects on the patient's health. The medical history may also direct differential diagnoses.[1]
What is the history of mental health treatment?
But it was in Paris, in 1792, where one of the most important reforms in the treatment of mental health took place.
What is the history of traditional medicine?
By the 18th century CE, Sanskrit medical wisdom still dominated. Muslim rulers built large hospitals in 1595 in Hyderabad, and in Delhi in 1719, and numerous commentaries on ancient texts were written. China also developed a large body of traditional medicine.
How did modern medicine develop in the mid-20th century?
The mid-20th century was characterized by new biological treatments, such as antibiotics. These advancements, along with developments in chemistry, genetics, and radiography led to modern medicine.
What can history teach us about medicine?
Teaching History to medical or nursing students, is important for know the evolution of medical, nursing science, but primarily for improve reasoning, critical thinking, and ability to reading about the present and the future of own profession.
Why is history important in the medical field?
Clinical Significance Patient medical history is often a crucial step in evaluating patients. Information gathered by doing a thorough medical history can have life or death consequences. In less extreme cases medical history will often direct care.
Why is medical history important in healthcare?
Why is a medical history important? Providing your primary care physician with an accurate medical history helps give him or her a better understanding of your health. It allows your doctor to identify patterns and make more effective decisions based on your specific health needs.
Why is it important to know a patients past medical history?
Knowing one's family health history allows a person to take steps to reduce his or her risk. For people at an increased risk of certain cancers, healthcare professionals may recommend more frequent screening (such as mammography or colonoscopy) starting at an earlier age.
Why medicine history is important and how is helps the physician?
A patient's medical history can identify the chances of their probability of having lifestyle diseases like diabetes, heart attacks etc which are the main cause of serious health conditions. It helps doctors and care giver's to minutely assess and give the best of medical facilities to the patient.
How can the health history relate to clinical prevention for that specific patient?
A family medical history can help practitioners create a unique road map to wellness and disease prevention. That knowledge also can help patients gain a diagnosis, plan a family, find the right treatment for a medical condition or improve their understanding of how genetics plays a role in their health.
Why is social history important in the care of a patient?
Along with the chance to connect with the patient as a person, the social history can provide vital early clues to the presence of disease, guide physical exam and test-ordering strategies, and facilitate the provision of cost-effective, evidence-based care.
What was the role of doctors in the 1880s?
In the 1880s, doctors were family counselors good at diagnosing ailments and providing solace and advice to relatives, but almost powerless to alter the course of killer diseases. Today, physicians are able to work miracles of lifesaving that their brethren a century ago could only dream of.
How have drugs changed women's lives?
Drugs have altered the ways we view our minds, changed our attitudes toward the law, shifted international relations, and triggered wars. By these measures, perhaps we should rename our species Homo pharmacum, the species that makes and takes drugs.
Where did the word "drug" come from?
One of those common themes is the evolution of drugs. The word drug itself comes from old French and Dutch terms for the barrels once used to keep herbs dry. Pharmacists 150 years ago were in many ways like today’s herbalists, extracting and compounding their medicines for the most part from jars of dried plants.
How much does America spend on prescription drugs?
America consumes more pharmaceuticals than any other nation on earth, and we spend a lot more to get them: more than $34 billion each year on over-the-counter drugs, and $270 billion on prescription drugs. That’s way beyond what any other nation spends, because our drug prices are a lot higher than any other nation’s.
How did medicine change?
The practice of medicine changed in the face of rapid advances in science, as well as new approaches by physicians. Hospital doctors began much more systematic analysis of patients' symptoms in diagnosis. Among the more powerful new techniques were anaesthesia, and the development of both antiseptic and aseptic operating theatres. Effective cures were developed for certain endemic infectious diseases. However, the decline in many of the most lethal diseases was due more to improvements in public health and nutrition than to advances in medicine.
Why did the Hong Kong College of Medicine start?
The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese was the forerunner of the School of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, which started in 1911. Because of the social custom that men and women should not be near to one another, the women of China were reluctant to be treated by male doctors.
How has genetics advanced?
Genetics have advanced with the discovery of the DNA molecule, genetic mapping and gene therapy. Stem cell research took off in the 2000s (decade), with stem cell therapy as a promising method. Evidence-based medicine is a modern concept, not introduced to literature until the 1990s. Prosthetics have improved.
What is the Atharvaveda?
The Atharvaveda, a sacred text of Hinduism dating from the Early Iron Age, is one of the first Indian texts dealing with medicine. The Atharvaveda also contains prescriptions of herbs for various ailments. The use of herbs to treat ailments would later form a large part of Ayurveda .
What was the mid 20th century?
Advanced research centers opened in the early 20th century, often connected with major hospitals. The mid-20th century was characterized by new biological treatments, such as antibiotics. These advancements, along with developments in chemistry, genetics, and radiography led to modern medicine.
Why is it important to read Chinese classics?
When reading the Chinese classics, it is important for scholars to examine these works from the Chinese perspective. Historians have noted two key aspects of Chinese medical history: understanding conceptual differences when translating the term "身, and observing the history from the perspective of cosmology rather than biology.
When were medical schools first established?
The first medical schools were opened in the 9th century, most notably the Schola Medica Salernitana at Salerno in southern Italy. The cosmopolitan influences from Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew sources gave it an international reputation as the Hippocratic City. Students from wealthy families came for three years of preliminary studies and five of medical studies. The medicine, following the laws of Federico II, that he founded in 1224 the University ad improved the Schola Salernitana, in the period between 1200 and 1400, it had in Sicily (so-called Sicilian Middle Ages) a particular development so much to create a true school of Jewish medicine.
What does a medical history reveal?
Obtaining a medical history can reveal the relevant chronic illnesses and other prior disease states for which the patient may not be under treatment but may have had lasting effects on the patient's health. The medical history may also direct differential diagnoses. [1]
Why is it important to have a medical history?
Obtaining a medical history can reveal the relevant chronic illnesses and other prior disease states for which the patient may not be under treatment but may have had lasting effects on the patient's health. The medical history may also direct differential diagnoses.[1] When treating a patient, information gathered by any means can crucially guide ...
Why is it important to ask if a patient has allergies to medication?
It is critical to always ask clearly if the patient has any medication allergies and if they do, clarify the reaction they had to the medication. Medication history is also important as patients take more and more medications and drug-drug interactions must be avoided.
Why is it important to communicate patient history?
Communicating the patient's medical history to other medical professionals is important and can have significant implications in preventing medical errors.
What is social history?
Social history is a broad category of the patient's medical history but may include the patients smoking or other tobacco use, alcohol and drug history and should also include other aspects of the patient's health including spiritual, mental, relationship status, occupation, hobbies, and sexual activity or pertinent sexual habits.
What is the definition of "when treating a patient"?
Definition/Introduction. When treating a patient, information gathered by any means can crucially guide and direct care. Many initial encounters with patients will include asking the patient's medical history, while subsequent visits may only require a review of the medical history and possibly an update with any changes.
Can a history of breast cancer be direct care?
In less extreme cases medical history will often direct care. An example of a patient with a history of breast cancer on chemotherapeutic drugs with a cough may show a need for further workup of a patient with an immunocompromised state versus a healthy patient with no chronic disease.
Where did the first mental health reform take place?
But it was in Paris, in 1792, where one of the most important reforms in the treatment of mental health took place. Science Museum calls Pinel “the founder of moral treatment,” which it describes as “the cornerstone of mental health care in the 1800s.” 9,10 Pinel developed a hypothesis that mentally unhealthy patients needed care and kindness in order for their conditions to improve; to that effect, he took ownership of the famous Hospice de Bicêtre, located in the southern suburbs of Paris. He ordered that the facility be cleaned, patients be unchained and put in rooms with sunlight, allowed to exercise freely within hospital grounds, and that their quality of care be improved.
What is the oldest medical book?
Two papyri, dated as far back as the 6th century BCE, have been called “the oldest medical books in the world,” for being among the first such documents to have identified the brain as the source of mental functioning (as well as covering other topics like how to treat wounds and perform basic surgery). 4.
What did Freud do to help people with mental health problems?
Mainstream psychology may not have thought much of psychoanalysis, but the attention Freud’s work received opened other doors of mental health treatment, such as psychosurgery, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychopharmacology. These treatments originated from the biological model of mental illness, which put forward that mental health problems were caused by biochemical imbalances in the body (an evolution of the “four humors” theory) and needed to be treated like physical diseases; hence, for example, psychosurgery (surgery on the brain) to treat the symptoms of a mental health imbalance.
What were the causes of mental illness in ancient times?
Ancient theories about mental illness were often the result of beliefs that supernatural causes, such as demonic possession, curses, sorcery, or a vengeful god, were behind the strange symptoms. Remedies, therefore, ran the gamut from the mystical to the brutal.
When did Freud's psychoanalysis become popular?
Freud’s psychoanalysis eventually went the way of the moral treatment method, being widely criticized and eventually discarded for lacking verifiability and falsifiability, but it proved a popular form of mental health treatment until the mid-1900s.
When did Lithium become a drug?
But that changed in 1949 when an Australian psychiatrist introduced the drug Lithium into the market. The drug did not cure psychosis but proved better at controlling the symptoms than any other method that had been tried. It was the earliest sign of the rise of (modern) psychopharmacology and changed the landscape of mental health treatment.
When was psychosurgery first used?
Psychosurgery. One of the most infamous chapters in the history of mental health treatments was psychosurgery. First developed in the 1930s, a patient would be put into a coma, after which a doctor would hammer a medical instrument (similar to an icepick) through the top of both eye sockets.
Who invented the steam powered medical instrument?
In an effort to spare the doctors this work, one ingenious practitioner named Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville created a steam-powered, “electromechanical medical instrument.”.
Who discovered cocaine as a topical anesthetic?
Pharmaceutical companies loved this new, fast-acting and relatively-inexpensive stimulant. In 1884, an Austrian ophthalmologist, Carol Koller , discovered that a few drops of cocaine solution put on a patient’s cornea acted as a topical anesthetic.
What is cocaine used for?
Marketed as a treatment for toothaches, depression, sinusitis, lethargy, alcoholism, and impotence, cocaine was soon being sold as a tonic, lozenge, powder and even used in cigarettes. It even appeared in Sears Roebuck catalogues.
How many cocaine addicts were there in 1902?
By 1902, there were an estimated 200,000 cocaine addicts in the U.S. alone. In 1914, the Harrison Narcotic Act outlawed the production, importation, and distribution of cocaine. 3.
What happened to Dr. Freeman?
This time, he severed a blood vessel and Mortenson died of a brain hemorrhage— finally putting an end to Freeman’s haphazard brain hacking. 7. Shock Treatments—The Cure for Impotence.
How many people were using fen-phen?
Soon, some 6 million Americans were using it. In April 1996, after a contentious debate, the FDA agreed to approve the drug, pending a one-year trial.
What was Walter Freeman's procedure called?
Instead, he created one of history’s most horrific medical treatments. Freeman developed his procedure, which became known as a prefrontal lobotomy, based on earlier research by a Portuguese neurologist.
Why is history important in health?
Studying history is important because it provides a perspective to develop an understanding of the health problems of communities and how to cope with them. From the concept and history of health, we can ...
When did WHO start presenting health as a process?
In 1984, a WHO working document proposed moving away from the concept of health as a state, and towards a dynamic model that presented health as a process or a force.
What are some different concepts of health?
“Health is not only the absence of disease, but it is something positive, a joyful attitude towards life and a joyful acceptance of the responsibilities that life places on the individual ” Sigerist (1941). “The state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not only the absence of disease” WHO (1945).
What is the medical model?
Medical Model. The medical model was the dominant one in North America throughout the 20th century. In its most extreme form, the “medical model” views the body as a machine, which will have to “repair itself” when it is “broken.”. Health is therefore considered as the absence of disease.
What were the major health problems of the end of the century?
By the end of the century, the major global health problems included the various consequences of atmospheric warming; the rapid growth of the world’s population; the emergence of new infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus); and the increased production and use of addictive drugs.
What were the major advances in medical technology during the 20th century?
The rate of medical advances during the 20th century was enormous, due to improvements in technology as well as new scientific discoveries. Rapid growth in health care in X-rays, Medicines, like antibiotics to fight bacterial infection and vaccines to prevent diseases is a new development that saves many lives.
Why is it easier to characterize the situation of illness than that of health?
Perhaps because the painful and limiting manifestations that the disease produces were what forced men to seek remedies to eliminate or mitigate them.
When was medicated fog used?
A medicated fog was used to treated cold and flu symptoms in 1929 : Underwood Archives/Getty Images. A woman using an electric inhaling apparatus which produces a medicated fog used in the treatment of colds and influenza, circa 1929 .
What was an ambulance like in 1881?
This is what an ambulance looked like in 1881: A Wiener Ambulance with patients in 'layers' in a horse drawn wooden carriage. The sides are partly open, but have curtains. The ambulance men are members of the Viennese Voluntary Rescue Society founded in 1881.
Why did Mendard lose his finger?
Mendard would later lose his finger to side effects from operating the X-ray machine. When Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X-ray in 1895, the New York Times was so skeptical that the paper referred to the medical breakthrough as the "alleged discovery of how to photograph the invisible.".
What was the ultimate drama in 1902?
And the ultimate drama, medical theater, also 1902: Library of Congress. Surgeons gather around the operating table in the clinic amphitheater at the Jefferson Medical College Hospital, with spectators and medical students seated in the background, 1902.
Where was the dissecting room at Jefferson Medical College?
Henry Ritter/Library of Congress. Partially dissected cadavers on tables in the dissecting room at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA , circa 1902.
When was frostbite and rheumatism therapy?
Getting frostbite and rheumatism therapy in 1910: W. G. Phillips/Phillips/Getty Images. A patient recuperating in the spa town of Harrogate is wired up to an electric machine used for the cure of frostbite and rheumatism, circa 1910 .
When was the first fitness test?
An early fitness test in 1932 : Felix H. Man/ullstein bild/Getty Images. Lieutenant Radtke presses air into his lungs in a constant height with a mercury column, while the doctor checks his blood presssure, circa 1932.
Treatment History
When admitting a patient for the first time, you need a significant amount of information. This should always include a patient's health history, any previous diagnoses, and a complete list of medications the patient is still taking.
Empathetic Listening
For many patients, treatment information can be embarrassing. Just as in all parts of the intake assessment, we must be aware of providing empathetic listening. Ensure that your facial and body movements do not appear anxious or disinterested. Remember, it is your duty to remain open and non-judgemental.
Open-Ended Questions
When we obtain any patient information, it can be easy to fall into a routine where we quickly run off a list of questions for the patient to answer. Yes or no questions make it difficult for us to gain a deeper meaning for what patients are telling us.
