Focused history and initial plan
Listen to the patient, identify the problem and explain your reasoning to a clinician.
Clinical learning outcomes: Awaiting named clinical review.
What you should learn
- Take a history that addresses the presenting problem and the patient’s concerns.
- Present a prioritised differential and an initial plan for review.
Recognise and explain
- A focused history still needs the background, medicines and circumstances that could change the assessment.
On your placement
Agree the activity and supervision with the clinical team. For patient-facing learning, seek permission and respect the patient’s comfort and care needs.
- Agree a suitable patient and introduce yourself as a medical student.
- Take the history, then check anything uncertain with the patient and supervisor.
- Present the key findings, explain your differential and ask what you may have missed.
- Follow the patient’s next assessment or investigation and compare it with your initial plan.
Start here
Chapter 3: History taking
Practise a focused history, listen to the person’s concerns and summarise the assessment.
Current guidance
GMC practical skills and procedures
Check the task-specific graduate expectation and discuss your current supervision with the placement team.
GMC guidance on the quality of clinical placements
Use the placement guidance to agree learning opportunities, supervision and feedback with your team.
On your next shift
Choose one question you omitted or could have asked more clearly. Use it in your next suitable consultation.
How this relates to GMC graduate outcomes and the MLA
These are St Emlyn’s learning connections, not a claim that this page covers every national requirement.
Clinical and professional capabilities: Clinical assessment; Communication; Recognising limits and seeking help.
Practical skills: Focused history and initial plan.
Suggested placement activities informed by the GMC framework. No new procedure-specific supervision level is assigned here.
Explore the student placement programme
Student practice and graduate expectations
About this resource and its review
A St Emlyn’s guide to learning Emergency Medicine during undergraduate placements. It is not an official medical-school or GMC curriculum. Your medical school’s curriculum and assessment requirements take precedence.
National foundations: GMC Outcomes for Graduates, the practical-skills supplement and the MLA content map applying from September 2026.
Framework checked: 8 October 2026. This is a source check, not clinical sign-off.
Clinical learning outcomes: awaiting named clinical review.
The four learning routes are St Emlyn’s groupings. The six interconnected MLA domains remain part of the official content map.