Medical History Evaluation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Effectiveness of Medical History forms on Oral surgery Consultant clinics
IRAS ID
124373
Contact name
Christopher Bell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Research summary
In an initial consultation, a medical history is a vital process to determine important facts about a patient’s general health, which may affect diagnosis and treatment, or indicate risks of future adverse medical events. The medical history at Bristol Dental Hospital is recorded on a dedicated form, which allows quick reference and is easily updated. These forms are reported to currently take a lot of time to complete, meaning that a large proportion of the consultation appointment is used to note the medical history leaving less time to focus on the reason why the patient is attending. In addition, patients often cannot remember certain aspects of their condition, their drugs and doses. An appropriately designed questionnaire that a patient could complete pre-appointment could help save clinical time and improve the accuracy of information.
For this study, the time taken to note the medical history using the existing system will be observed for a group of patients and any difficulties encountered in doing so recorded (e.g. cannot remember drug dose). To a subsequent group of patients a questionnaire structured to aid the recording the information normally collected by the clinician alone will be sent. These patients will present the questionnaire to the clinician at the time of their appointment and it will be used by the clinician when taking the medical history. Again the time taken for the clinician to gain a full picture of the medical history and any difficulties encountered will be recorded.
The times taken and problems encountered will be compared to decide whether the use of a patient administered questionnaire will save time or improve the information gained from the patient.REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/1013
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion