¶ … nursing contributes a great deal towards gaining an understanding of how the job can be done, investigating the scientific literature revolving around the profession can also be a helpful tool. Lloyd & Craig's (2007) article " A guide to taking a patient's history," is a very informative and useful collection of ideas important to the subject of history taking as it pertains to a key task of nursing. The purpose of this essay is to review the aforementioned article to gain insight and understanding through explaining their argument. This essay will first summarize the article in an objective fashion to present the facts and presentation of the two authors. The next portion of the essay, before concluding, will evaluate this article using a subjective critique of both content and presentation. Summary of The Article

Lloyd & Craig's article presents a simple and systematic approach to history taking. The article suggests nurses should model their approach to this subject by using framework of a similar nature to the one presented in this article. This framework includes identifying the three key points that should generally govern and medical history inquiry. These points include, preparing the environment, communication skills and the importance of order.

Besides the three key points the article also makes secondary suggestions to efficiently maximizing resources when conducting patient interviews. Validated training is suggested as a surer way of ensuring that this important nursing practice is maintained at a high level....

Also, the article recommends that standards presented in the NMC Code of Professional Conduct are to be used to ensure high quality.
The article begins with important and succinct comments regarding the importance of prepping the environment before beginning any history taking procedures. The authors suggested that "the environment should be private, quiet and ideally, there should be no interruptions. When this is not possible the nurse should do everything possible to ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained " (p.42). The next key point of communication is also addressed in the beginning of the article to set what the authors believe as important principles, of which, the framework of history taking should respect and revolve around.

Besides arguing their point, the authors present some very helpful charts in the article to help guide the reader. Box 2 of the article outlines a history taking sequence that can be used as reference. The authors listed the following sequence as an approved system of taking history to support their framework:

1. The presenting complaint.

2. Past medical history.

3. Mental health

4. Medication history.

5. Family history

6. Social history

7. Sexual history

8. Occupational history

9. Systemic enquiry

10. Further information from a third party.

11. Summary

The authors next inserted an existing framework to help support their argument. The Calgary Cambridge…