Beyond UMAT Preparation: Taking a Medical History

The very first thing you learn in the first year of medical school is how to take an accurate medical history. To be honest, this is a skill that is hammered into you continually until your final year. To give you a bit of a distraction in the midst of your UMAT® Exam preparation, I thought it would be interesting for you to see what the cardinal medical school procedure is. Next time you see a doctor, see how many of these things they cover!

Demographics

Name:
Age:
Occupation:

These three are the first points of contact and are used to establish that you are seeing the right patient and get the basics of the consultation down.

Presenting complaint (WWQQAA)

Where:
When:
Quality: Type
Quantity: Out of 10
Associated Symptoms:
Aggravating and Alleviating Factors: Better or Worse

Once the demographics are established, it’s important to flesh out the reason they have come to see you. These six questions help you gain a lot more information on their presenting complaint, as patients on their own won’t volunteer most of this.

Past Medical History

Diabetes:
Cancer:
Hypertension:
Cholesterol:
Surgeries:

These questions serve to set a baseline for the patient’s general wellbeing, as well as give you indications for the causes of the current presenting complaint. Sometimes complications of pre-existing medical conditions can be the cause of presenting to a doctor.

Family History

Conditions in your family, parents and siblings:

As countless conditions either run in families through genetics or increase the risk of incidence, it is important to establish what is going on in their gene pool!

Medication history

Prescription Medication:
Drugs:
Smoking:
Alcohol:
Supplements:
Contraception:
Allergies:

All of these questions are of vital importance for two reasons. First, they can prevent you from making mistakes in terms of treatment, such as giving someone two medications that don’t interact well with each other. The other reason they are so important is because they can tell you more information on their lifestyle, risk factors and medical well-being.

Social history

Diet:
Stress:
Exercise:
Work:

These are often the most ignored questions but are actually quite important. They can help again establish lifestyle and point at possible avenues for modification in terms of treatment. It can also be really useful to catch mental health issues here.

Obviously this is a very attenuated version of the history required to be performed by medical students and doctors alike, but hopefully it served as a point of interest and motivation!

For now on, Happy UCAT Studying!