To remember important elements of the past medical history, remember this phrase: “CHAMPS DO HAM”
C: Cancer
H: Hypertension
A: Angina
M: Myocardial infarction
P: PE/DVT
S: Stroke
D: Diabetes
O: Obs/Gyn (includes GPA, menstrual history, sexual history….Obviously, for males, just ask for sexual history)
H: Hospitalizations (medical/surgical)
A: Allergies
M: Medications
To ensure that you don’t forget any constitutional symptoms, think of the patient as being: “Hot, tired, and not hungry.”
Hot: Fever/chills, sweats
Tired: Fatigue, change in sleep habits
Not hungry: Appetite, weight loss
There are several good mnemonics for taking a pain history, many are variations of “OPQRST”:
O: Onset
P: Provocation and palliation
Q: Quality (Is it sharp, dull, ripping, crushing, squeezing, burning, freezing? Is it throbbing, constant, intermittent?)
R: Region and radiation
S: Severity
T: Time (i.e. chronology: how long it has been going on, has it improved or worsened)
Personally, I find the “CLOSER” pain assessment tool more useful:
C: Characteristics (quality and severity)
L: Location and radiation
O: Onset and duration
S: Symptoms associated
E: Exacerbating factors
R: Relieving factors
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That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading!
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