Talk:SAMPLE history

Not Bad

Don't forget this is often used by EMS to give report to each other/ER staff when passing off patients. It ensures that important information is not missed. My only suggestions are as follows: 1. first off, I would add the overall purpose of each section so people get the idea of the "intent" behind each one. S - s/s are to accurately describe/report what is going on with that particular patient. it includes all injuries and symptoms and all treatments that you did for each. A- finding out if they have allergies is good, finding out what that reaction actually IS is even better. Ex: Allergies: PCN - Rash; Shellfish - difficulty breathing/rash M - I would add not only what medications are they prescribed (Rx) or taking over the counter (OTC) but when each medication was last taken. It is becoming more common to also ask about any "supplements" or "Herbal" treatments as well. P - PMH - past pertinent medical history - medical history that pertains to the s/s. If you are L- Last oral intake: the purpose of this is if the patient needs surgery, the physician/surgeon/anesthesia needs to know when they last ate. If you plan on intubating... you need to know when they last ate. E - Events leading up to injury: This is designed to communicate "Mechanism of Injury"(for trauma). This can cue medical personnel into most likely injuries and complications based on how they were hurt. It can help diagnosis of illness by finding out what they were doing when symptoms began.139.161.2.10 (talk) 22:30, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Categorizations

Will those who favor limiting this to one single category please explain the rationale for doing so? Most Wikipedia articles seem to bear multiple appropriate categories and I'm at a loss to explain why this one wouldn't as well, so I'm reverting the category deletion again. Jclemens (talk) 21:32, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

My reason for removing Category:Prehospital care is that a "SAMPLE history" is not unique to EMS. It is a mnemonic used throughout medicine. Very few (if any) medical mnemonics relate only to EMS (except for ASHICE, which may be not notable (and possibly UK-specific) - I have never heard of it before stumbling upon that article). You wouldn't put an article such as vital signs in this category - would you? So considering that this mnemonic is not unique or specific for prehospital care, it should not belong in this category (unlike bag valve mask, for example, which is only used in emergency situations). If you still think it should be placed in Category:Prehospital care, then it should also be placed in every medical specialty category where the mnemonic is used (which would be all of them, since all healthcare providers should be taking a SAMPLE history on every patient). Because it relates to all of medicine, the single most proper placement would be in Category:Medical mnemonics, which is a direct sub-category of Category:Medicine. --Scott Alter 22:29, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I remain unconvinced why multiple applicable categories aren't kept. Sure, SAMPLE can be used outside EMS, but it is a core tool of BLS. Look at a few random articles like Aldosterone, Babylon_5, Tacoma_Mall_shooting, or The_Final_Cut_(album) and count their categories to get a feel for what I'm talking about. I'm not seeing anything in WP:Categorization#Guidelines which jumps out at me as suggesting prehospital care (or emergency medical services, assuming the category rename goes through) would be an inappropriate place for this. Jclemens (talk) 23:41, 4 April 2008 (UTC)