Book Review: A Guide to Taking a Patient's History
This paper reviews Lloyd and Craig's 2007 article "A Guide to Taking a Patient's History," published in Nursing Standard. The review summarizes the article's core framework for patient history taking, which centers on three key principles: preparing the environment, developing communication skills, and following a structured sequence of inquiry. The paper then offers a subjective evaluation of the article's content and presentation, noting its accessible language, practical charts, and balanced scope. The Calgary Cambridge Observation Guide is also discussed as a supplementary tool recommended within the article. Overall, the review concludes that the article is a valuable reference for nursing students and practitioners.
- Introduction: Purpose and structure of the review
- Summary of the Article: Framework, key principles, and supporting tools
- The History-Taking Sequence: Eleven-step patient history sequence outlined
- Evaluation of the Article: Critique of content, language, and presentation
- Conclusion: Overall assessment and value for nursing practice
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper clearly separates objective summary from subjective evaluation, giving the review a disciplined, two-part structure that is appropriate for an academic critique.
- The writer stays closely focused on the source article, accurately representing its framework and supporting evidence without overstating or embellishing the authors' claims.
- The evaluation section makes specific observations about the article's readability, layout, and use of margin boxes, which grounds the critique in concrete textual evidence.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the technique of structured article critique: first presenting the source objectively, then assessing its strengths through reasoned evaluation. The student correctly identifies the article's core argument (a practical, framework-driven guide to history taking) and evaluates both its content and its presentational choices — such as the use of charts and checklists — rather than simply retelling what the article says.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief introduction that states its purpose and outlines its two-part plan. The summary section covers the article's three key principles, its recommended sequence, and the role of the Calgary Cambridge Observation Guide. A subsection isolates the eleven-step history-taking sequence for clarity. The evaluation section assesses the article's language, layout, and usefulness. The conclusion offers a personal endorsement grounded in the preceding analysis. One reference is cited in MLA-adjacent format.
Introduction
While practical nursing contributes a great deal toward gaining an understanding of how the job is done, investigating the scientific literature surrounding the profession can also be a valuable tool. Lloyd and Craig's (2007) article "A Guide to Taking a Patient's History" is a highly informative and useful collection of ideas important to the subject of patient history taking as it pertains to a key task of nursing. The purpose of this essay is to review the aforementioned article in order to gain insight and understanding by explaining the authors' argument. The essay will first summarize the article in an objective fashion to present the facts and the authors' position. The next portion, before concluding, will evaluate the article through a subjective critique of both content and presentation.
Works Cited
Lloyd, H., & Craig, S. (2007). A guide to taking a patient's history. Nursing Standard, 22(13), 42–48.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.