Deficiencies of history taking among medical students

This study was designed to identify the deficiencies of the history taken by final medical students at the University of Bahr Elghazal, Khartoum, Sudan, during the academic year 2000 through to 2001.

Throughout the academic year the author observed the students while taking history. Each student was asked to give a fully written case history. I assessed the basic skills of history taking (questioning, facilitation, clarification, jargon use, initiation of interview and keeping to time limits). I also assessed the amount and accuracy of data obtained. The findings were rated on a 3-point scale (good, fair, poor).

For the 45 students assessed, the deficiencies of history taking obtained included poor questioning (66.6%), poor facilitation (51.1%), poor clarification (40%), use or acceptance of jargons (42.2%), failure of proper initiation of interview (37.8%), failure of keeping to time limits (33.3%), failure of identification of major symptoms (33.3%), poor analysis of symptoms (53.3%), lack of control of the interview (31.1%), poor elucidation of previous events (48.9%) and poor coverage of social aspects (62.2%).

The history obtained by our medical students is deficient and they generally lack the basic skills of interviewing. Many factors contribute to this, (namely deficient training, lack of staff and deficit of teaching hospitals). The author discussed possible solutions to remedy the history taking deficiencies.