Acute Medicine | Medicine of the elderly | How to take a dizzy history

How to Take a Dizzy History
Session Overview
Description
This session will cover how to take a history from a patient presenting with dizziness.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Recognise the important patterns of dizziness and take a proper ‘dizzy history’

Dizziness is a common presenting complaint affecting up to 38% of the population by age 80.

There are many different causes of dizziness.

Patients use lots of different terms to describe their dizziness such as:

• Spinning
• Light headedness
• Giddiness
• Swimming
• Unsteadiness
• Imbalance
• Vertigo

Taking a history from a dizzy patient is a daunting prospect for many junior doctors, but doing this correctly and in a logical manner is essential for diagnosis.