OMPLETE A FAMILY MEDICAL HISTORY TREE via DROPBOX – this assignment of assessing your health risk(s), due to family medical history, may provide valuable information if personal health care is needed in the future. You may be asked to provide this information for your medical record when seeking health care. While this information may require you to spend some time researching with family members, it is a very valuable tool that will also help you identify heritable health risks where YOU may want to focus on decreasing due to this history.
These instructions/questions will help you to develop a Family Medical History. Link: Questions to ask when researching family medical history
Please spend time interviewing family members (as you are able) to complete this assignment. I would like you to document (2 generations) mother/father, Aunts/Uncles, and Grandparents. Siblings are optional.
Please know that anything you write, your information is confidential (will not be shared with anyone) and requested only for educational purposes for you to learn the process of producing a family medical history. Many students have appreciated this opportunity to learn more about their personal family medical history. As per instructions, please do not use names (family association is OK) to protect confidentiality. It is OK to list a relative with no medical concerns/history and note such. Please document accordingly. It is important to document if a person has passed away, the age, and the diagnosis(s) at death.
Look through your family medical tree. Do you see a trend in certain illnesses, diseases, conditions? Familial lifestyle factors also explain your risks such as: mental health concerns, obesity, use of alcohol, drugs, or tobacco, addiction tendencies, even wearing eye correction glasses.
REMEMBER to summarize in a final paragraph: “After reviewing my family medical history tree, I have observed that I may be at higher risk for: ………………………………………….. “.
IF you are adopted or unable to obtain family medical history OR do not feel comfortable documenting this information, please email me for a substitute assignment. This assignment will involve research and a 2 page written paper.
Examples of how to complete a Family Medical History Tree
