History Taking

History taking is the most important clinical skill. It is the starting point and without a good start one would be doomed to failure.
I asked one of the medical students who was in clinic with me what he understands by the word history in relation to patients.
His reply was excellent . A history is the story of the patients illness.
A good story is easy to understand and is interesting.
However, before telling the story one must obtain the story from the patient. The technique is called "History Taking". By using the word "taking" one accepts that this is an active process rather than a passive process of asking an open question and expecting the patient to tell the entire tale. If this was the case the technique would have been called "History Listening" !