Medical expert of the article
New publications
Questioning the patient
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Usually, the examination of a patient begins with questioning. There are many examples when the diagnosis is practically established by studying only the anamnesis. In any case, from the very beginning of the questioning, the doctor has ideas about a possible disease or clinical syndrome, and most often the questioning and further examination continue purposefully, taking the form of a conversation, an interview.
The questioning concerns not only the immediate sensations of the patient at the present time, but also those experienced in the past. At the same time, it is necessary to evaluate the patient's personality and his ability to fully and adequately answer the questions posed from the very beginning. Not every patient can describe the details of his sensations accurately enough, remember what happened in the past, the sequence of events, their interrelation. Therefore, it is often necessary to return to the questioning in the process of further observation and communication with the patient, especially in connection with the results of the examination.
Questioning as one of the important diagnostic methods was elevated to the rank of a fundamental diagnostic technique by G. A. Zakharyin, one of the outstanding Russian clinicians. The priority of G. A. Zakharyin in this regard is also recognized abroad. It is known that the prominent French clinician Henri Yuchar came to Russia, to the clinic of G. A. Zakharyin, specifically to study the questioning method. Later, in the preface to the French translation of G. A. Zakharyin's lectures, he wrote: "The fame of this method and its wide use were due not only to its simplicity and logic, sparing the patient, but also to its great practicality and the property of this method to reveal initial changes in functional diagnostics."
It was G. A. Zakharyin who insisted on the importance of clarifying the etiology of the disease, a thorough study of the patient's environment, which is largely clarified by the details of questioning the patient and his relatives. Professional factors, lifestyle features, habits (for example, addiction to tea or coffee), the degree of physical activity were included in the mandatory list of circumstances clarified by the doctor, important for understanding the essence of the disease in a particular patient.
Getting to know the patient begins with clarifying his so-called personal data: last name, first name and patronymic, age, profession, place of work. It is also advisable to clarify his ethnicity, since some diseases are more common in people of certain nationalities.
The survey consists of the following parts:
- complaints;
- the patient's medical history, including heredity (family history) and disease history.
[