Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr Sharmi Bhattacharyya
Introduce yourself Explain the purpose and approx how long it will take Start with open questions Never hurry a patient try to be empathic and listen You might need an informant ( ask patients permission )
PRESENTING COMPLAINTS
Should
words
Obtain a clear chronological account of symptoms ( e.g. depression, psychosis) and the effects of these symptoms on behaviour
CURRENT MEDICATIONS
What medications do you take regularly and since when? What medications have you had in the past?
FAMILY HISTORY
Are your parents still living? Are they well? Do you mind me asking how they died? What did your parents do? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Are you close to them? As far as you know, has anyone in your family ever had problems with their mental health?
PERSONAL HISTORY
Infancy and early childhood
Where were you born? Where did you grow up? As far as you know, was your mothers pregnancy and delivery normal?
PERSONAL HISTORY
If not, were there any problems around the time of your birth? Did you have any serious illnesses as a young child? Were you walking and talking at the correct times?
PERSONAL HISTORY
Adolescence and education Which school/s did you go to? Did you enjoy school? Any lasting memories of school?
PERSONAL HISTORY
Did you have many friends at school? Still in contact? When did you finish school ? Qualifications? Were you ever in trouble at school? ever expelled or suspended? Bullied?
PERSONAL HISTORY
What did you do after finishing school? Occupational record Sexual development, Relationships and marriage Do you have any children? How old are they?
PERSONAL HISTORY
Present social circumstances Who lives at home with you now? Do you have any worries about debt or money in general? Do you have friends or family who live nearby?
PREMORBID PERSONALITY
Before all this happened, how would you describe yourself? How would other people describe you? When you find yourself in difficult situations, how do you cope? What sort of things do you like to do to relax?
PREMORBID PERSONALITY
Do you have any hobbies? Do you like to be around other people or do you prefer your own company? Are you religious? Do you have any ambitions or plans?
FORENSIC HISTORY
Have you ever been in trouble with the police, or been convicted of anything?
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Describe appearance: Body habitus; prominent physical characteristics: tattoos, scars, needle sites; grooming and attire Level of consciousness, apparent age, position and posture, eye contact, facial expressions,rapport
Describe attitude: Degree and type of co-cooperativeness, resistance Describe activity: Voluntary movements and their intensity, involuntary movements Automatic movements, Tics, mannerisms, compulsions
THOUGHT
DESCRIBE FORM OF THOUGHT: Degree of connectedness (loose associations, tangentiality, etc.) Presence of peculiarities (clang associations, blocking, neologisms, etc.)
THOUGHT CONTENT
Describe thought content: Predominant topic or issues; Preoccupations, ruminations, obsessions; Suicidal or homicidal ideation; Phobias.
THOUGHT CONTENT
ABNORMAL BELIEFS: Describe any delusions, thought interference, reference or persecution, control or passivity phenomenon, nihilistic or grandiose ideas/ delusions
PERCEPTUAL ABNORMALITIES
Illusions Hallucinations- sensory experience in the absence of a stimulus-various types ( auditory, visual, gustatory, tactile).
COGNITION
USUALLY MMSE WOULD DO
General: Alertness and Co-operation [STM: Name, Address, Flower to remember] Orientation: Time and Place Attention: WORLD backwards and Serial Sevens Language: Naming and Repetition
COGNITION
USUALLY MMSE WOULD DO
Calculation: Division and Subtraction Right Hemisphere Function: Intersecting pentagons and Clock-face Abstraction: Proverbs and Similarities Memory: STM and Long-term memory Praxis: Wave good-bye and Comb hair
Awareness of disease:
Do you consider that you are ill in any way? Why have you come into hospital? Do you have a physical or a mental illness? If you have a mental illness, what is it?
General observations: Vital signs: HR, BP, RR, Temp: Autonomic arousal, tremor, sweating etc. Important features: scars, tattoos, signs of liver disease, signs of thyroid or Cushings disease, etc., Specific CVS, RS, GI, and CNS examination findings and important negative findings