=Taking the Patient’s History.= The facts concerning the patient must be gathered in his home, and they are of two kinds, those concerning his physical and those concerning his social condition. The first thing to be done is to establish a feeling of trust between the patient and the nurse. As a rule, all patients are communicative, and a few adroit questions will open a flood-gate of confidence from which can be gathered full details concerning their personal and family affairs. This gives the nurse much of the information which she needs not only for her charts and records, but also in order to deal intelligently with each case. For unless she understands the patient, and knows something of his social and economic condition, she will not be able to give helpful advice. But the nurse must also bear in mind that tuberculous persons are frequently shy and sensitive, and it may be difficult to obtain their true histories. They may be more ready to describe their physical symptoms than their social condition, and facts about their employment, hours, wages, life insurance, and so forth are not always forthcoming. It is inadvisable to make notes in the presence of the patient, for among the poorer classes there is a fear that their words, when noted in a book, may in some mysterious manner be used against them. Occasionally, in a matter of some importance, distrust may be quieted by asking, “May I just write that down? The doctor will be interested in that and I want to get it right,” but it is well to remember that suspicions once aroused are difficult to quiet, and that for the welfare of the community it is better to teach them to use their sputum cups, than to antagonize them by too many questions. The nurse should get all the facts the chart calls for, but with certain patients this may take considerable time. At each succeeding visit she can ask another question and a more intimate one, until she collects, little by little, all the data she requires. But it is a mistake to keep on asking questions—collecting statistics—at the expense of confidence and good-will. It is true that when a patient goes to a dispensary, he is prepared to answer many questions, but there is this difference—it is he who seeks the dispensary. When the tables are reversed, when he is not the seeker but the one sought, he must be handled carefully. There are of course many patients to whom this does not apply, and who willingly volunteer every detail of their lives, but these are not the majority. The others, the more sensitive ones, make up three quarters of the visiting list. The antagonizing of a patient by tactless questioning is an unfavourable commentary on the method of handling him.