• Wijdicks Eelco F M EFM Division of Neurocritical Care and Hospital Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA. wijde@mayo.edu..
• Division of Neurocritical Care and Hospital Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA. wijde@mayo.edu.
• Neurocrit Care. 2020 Jun 1; 32 (3): 677-682.

AbstractA clinical history leads to an examination, tests and a diagnosis. This time-honored sequence in medicine remains valid in critical illness, but in the heat of the moment there is a quickly appearing inevitable sketchiness. Intensivists should never be too unquestioning, too comfortable with incomplete information, or too unwilling to start over if information is muddled or contradictory. No scale in neurology looks at history. There is no tool or requirement to provide a standard system of communication. I review the essentials of history taking in a neurocritically ill patient. Examples of the value of a good medical history are shown but also the familiar biases when asking questions. There are obstacles, errors of commission and omission, and the importance of recognition of a clinical trajectory.

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