A good history is worth its salt, says this GP

There is nothing as important as taking a good history.

I thought I had mastered the skill and had even been employed for a few years to teach medical students the art. But then, sometimes, one has a slip up or two...

Take the patient who presented with shoulder pain. She reported that she had been troubled for many months. She could no longer bear it. She had advanced to the age where one might expect some rotator cuff problems.

But clinically, she had a good range of movement, no painful arc, and I