In medicine, a social history (abbreviated "SocHx") is a portion of the

medical history The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other peo ...

(and thus the

admission note An admission note is part of a medical record that documents the patient's status (including history and physical examination findings), reasons why the patient is being admitted for inpatient care to a hospital or other facility, and the i ...

) 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 ** Alcohol **

Tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

(

pack year A pack-year is a clinical Quantification (science), quantification of cigarette smoking used to measure a person's exposure to Tobacco products, tobacco. This is used to assess their risk of developing lung cancer or other pathologies related to t ...

s) **

illicit drugs The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate t ...

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

sexual behavior Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...

(increased risk of various infections among prostitutes, people who have sex with people for money, and males engaging in anal-receptive intercourse) *

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

(especially if tuberculosis needs to be ruled out) *

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

* exercise *

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

* Firearms in household (especially if children or persons with cognitive impairment are present)

Relation to history

References

{{Medical records Medical terminology