Taking a 'drugs' history.

A simple, anonymous questionnaire was used to examine the depth of drug history taken from patients by a group of junior doctors. The results showed that most who replied restricted their history to prescription medicines and smoking. We feel that this is no longer sufficient and that a drug history should be expanded to include substances such as recreational drugs and over-the-counter preparations. If an allergy is reported, detailed questioning about its nature is also important since the term is often used by patients when a true allergy does in fact not exist. We present a mnemonic which can be used as an aide memoire to the various areas of importance.