History taking

The SOCRATES acronym stands for: Site Onset Character Radiation Associated symptoms Timing Exacerbating and relieving factors Severity Using SOCRATES in history taking SOCRATES provides a structured framework for taking a medical history. Each section of SOCRATES is described below, with example questions. Depending on the patient’s symptoms, not all parts of SOCRATES may be relevant. For example, some symptoms (e.g. breathlessness or fatigue) will not have a specific anatomical location or radiation. Site Ask about the location of the symptom: “Where is the [symptom]?” “Can you point to where you experience the [symptom]?” Onset Clarify how and when the symptom developed: “Did the [symptom] come on suddenly or gradually?” “When did the [symptom] first start?” “How long have you been experiencing [symptom]?” Character Ask about the specific characteristics of the symptom: “How would you describe the [symptom]?” “Is the [symptom] constant or does it come and go?” Radiation Ask if the symptom moves anywhere else: “Does the [symptom] spread elsewhere?” Associated symptoms Ask if there are other symptoms which are associated with the primary symptom: “Are there any other symptoms that seem associated with the [symptom]?” Timing Clarify how the symptom has changed over time: “How has the [symptom] changed over time?” Exacerbating and relieving factors Ask if anything makes the symptom worse or better: “Does anything make the [symptom] worse?” “Does anything make the [symptom] better?” Severity Assess the severity of the symptom by asking the patient to grade it on a scale of 0-10: “On a scale of 0-10, how severe is the [symptom], if 0 is no [symptom] and 10 is the worst [symptom] you’ve ever experienced?” https://geekymedics.com/the-socrates-acronym-in-history-taking/