Medical history


When a client presents himself or herself at a hospital or clinic, the staff will need to obtain a medical history. A medical history can be short or very detailed. Different health professionals may be involved in obtaining different types of information.

Objectives:

  • Request a full case medical history
  • Use the correct forms of the past tenses + prepositions to describe precise time.

Preparation activity

Review these verb tenses and practice the dialogues.

Simple Past  +

ago

HP: When did your headache start?
P: It started 2 days ago.

Present Perfect +

Since/for

HP: How long have you had this headache?
P: I have had this headache since Wednesday. (exact time)
P: I have had this headache for 2 days. (period of time)

Past Continuous +

for

HP: How long were you exercising before your headache started?
P: I was exercising for 30 minutes. (period of time)

 

 

Let’s Listen: Podcast

In this podcast you will hear short dialogues detailing how to ask a patient about their medical history.