Alcohol history-taking

Improving alcohol and tobacco history taking by junior medical officers.

AIMS We aimed to determine the effectiveness of individual feedback and group feedback in improving recording, assessment, and management of risky alcohol use and of tobacco smoking by Junior Medical Officers (JMOs). METHOD Medical records of patients admitted by JMOs were examined for recording of alcohol use, alcohol withdrawal, intervention for alcohol, a consultation with the Drug and Alc...

Heritability for Stroke: Essential for Taking Family History

 There are many well-established factors that influence the risk of stroke including blood pressure, diabetes, low socioeconomic status and smoking, however, the shared genetic resource in members of a family effect on stroke predisposition. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have demonstrated evidence of a shared genetic source in stroke risk. This review considered the influence of family...

Alcohol and Crime: Taking Stock

Teaching history-taking: where are we?

Knowledge in history-taking has increased rapidly over the last twenty years. Currently the principles to be taught include "conduct," "content," and "diagnostic reasoning." However, inattentiveness of medical schools, reluctance of busy faculty to be involved, and increasing enrollments have resulted in difficulties in teaching these skills. Studies have shown a beneficial short-term effect of...

Life history variables and risk-taking propensity

We examined the effects of life-history variables on risk-taking propensity, measured by subjective likelihoods of engaging in risky behaviors in five evolutionarily valid domains of risk, including between-group competition, within-group competition, environmental challenge, mating and resource allocation, and fertility and reproduction. The effects of life-history variables on risk-taking pro...