Medical History Taking and Clinical Symptoms

This flashcard set covers the vocabulary terms for medical history taking, communication skills, clinical symptoms, and types of pain as detailed in the lecture transcript.

Chief complaint

The primary symptom or problem that brings a patient to the doctor.

Onset

The beginning or first appearance of the signs or symptoms of an illness.

Past medical history

A record of a patient's past illnesses, surgeries, and medical conditions.

Social history

Information about a patient's lifestyle, occupation, habits (smoking, alcohol).

Family history

A record of medical conditions or diseases prevalent in a patient's family.

Procedure

A specific medical treatment or operation.

Allergy

A damaging immune response by the body to a substance.

Elicit

To draw out information or a response from a patient.

Interrupt

To stop a person from speaking by saying or doing something.

Open-ended question

A question that requires a full answer, not just "yes" or "no".

Hidden agenda

A patient's unstated or concealed underlying worry or reason for the visit.

Anorexia

A lack or loss of appetite for food.

Constipation

A condition in which there is difficulty in emptying the bowels.

Delirium

An acutely disturbed state of mind characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence.

Diarrhoea

A condition in which faeces are discharged from the bowels frequently and in a liquid form.

Diplopia

The subjective complaint of seeing two images instead of one.

Dyspnoea

Difficult or labored breathing; shortness of breath.

Dysuria

Painful or difficult urination.

Haemoptysis

The coughing up of blood or blood-stained mucus from the respiratory tract.

Malaise

A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness.

Melaena

The production of dark sticky faeces containing partly digested blood.

Myalgia

Pain in a muscle or group of muscles.

Nocturia

The need to wake and pass urine at night.

Palpitation

A noticeably rapid, strong, or irregular heartbeat.

Photophobia

Extreme sensitivity to light.

Pruritis

Severe itching of the skin.

Sputum

A mixture of saliva and mucus coughed up from the respiratory tract.

Strangury

A condition marked by slow, painful urination, caused by muscular spasms of the urethra and bladder.

Dull ache

A persistent, not severe but uncomfortable continuous pain.

Stabbing pain

A sudden, sharp, and intense pain.

Burning pain

A feeling of painful heat.

Gnawing pain

A continuous, persistent, and mildly tearing or biting pain.