Social history (medicine)
Encyclopedia
In medicine, a social history (abbreviated "SocHx") is a portion of the Admission note
addressing familial, occupational, and recreational aspects of the patient's personal life that have the potential to be clinically significant.
Admission note
An admission note is part of a medical record that documents the patient's status, reasons why the patient is being admitted for inpatient care to a hospital or other facility, and the initial instructions for that patient's care...
addressing familial, occupational, and recreational aspects of the patient's personal life that have the potential to be clinically significant.
Components
Components can include inquiries about:- Substances
- AlcoholAlcoholIn chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
- TobaccoTobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
(pack yearPack year-Definition:A way to measure the amount a person has smoked over a long period of time. It is calculated by multiplying the number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day by the number of years the person has smoked...
s) - illicit drugs
- Alcohol
- occupationEmploymentEmployment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
- sexual preference (increased risk of various infections among prostitutes, johns, and males engaging in anal-receptive intercourse)
- prisonPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
(especially if tuberculosis needs to be ruled out) - travelTravelTravel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...