FaMED Anamnese: Read the Task, Listen and Ask Clearly

The Anamnesegespräch is one of the two situations in the doctor–patient station. The current practice test gives this situation at most 11 minutes; the paired history/consent block is 23 minutes including reading.

Read the actual assignment

Identify your role, the person you are speaking with and the requested task. Use the supplied details; do not assume the display, case or role is always the same. The history case need not continue into the consent or writing task.

Introduce yourself naturally and check how to address the patient. For example:

Guten Tag, mein Name ist …, ich bin heute für das Gespräch zuständig. Was führt Sie zu uns?

Listen before running through a checklist

Let the person describe the main concern, then clarify onset, course and relevant associated symptoms. Ask one clear question at a time. If an answer already covers a point, do not repeat it merely to satisfy a mnemonic.

For pain, OPQRST can help you organise follow-up questions. It is a memory aid, not a published FaMed scoring checklist.

Connect symptoms with background

Ask about relevant previous illnesses, medication and allergies, then family/social circumstances and other information the situation calls for. The class materials use SAMPLER to remember information groups. Adapt it to the conversation rather than reciting every question in a fixed order.

Useful transitions include:

• „Damit ich Ihre Beschwerden besser einordnen kann, frage ich noch nach Ihren Medikamenten.“
• „Wie hat sich das seit Beginn verändert?“
• „Wenn Sie sagen, Ihnen sei schwindelig: Wie fühlt sich das genau an?“

Patient idioms are useful material for practising clarification.

Summarise and respond

Keep notes faithful to what was said. At the end, offer a concise patient-facing summary, check it and explain the next steps appropriate to the assignment. Do not promise a diagnosis that has not been established.

Ich fasse kurz zusammen: … Habe ich Sie richtig verstanden? Welche Frage ist für Sie noch offen?

For a focused partner session, try the three follow-up question cards with patient replies.

Sources and review

Editorial check: 18 October 2026, human medicine. Official exam flow, Current human-medicine practice test. Practice examples are created by FaMED Prep; they are not predictions of exam questions.