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Medicine vocabulary · History Taking and Examination

Review of systems

Meaning in medicine, with examples

nounCommon term

In medicine, review of systems means: A quick set of questions about each body system, asked near the end of the history to catch symptoms the patient has not mentioned.

In Turkish: sistem sorgusu, sistemlerin gözden geçirilmesi

How it is used

Called ROS in the US and 'systems review' or 'systemic enquiry' in the UK. Doctors go through the general, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, neurological and other systems with short closed questions.

Example sentences

  1. The review of systems was otherwise negative.

  2. On review of systems, he mentioned some ankle swelling he hadn't thought was important.

Common collocations

  • do a review of systems
  • brief review of systems
  • otherwise negative review of systems
  • take a historyTo ask a patient structured questions about their current problem, past illnesses, medicines, family and lifestyle in order to understand what is wrong.
  • closed questionA question that can be answered with yes, no or a single fact, used to check specific details quickly.
  • past medical historyThe section of a history that lists a patient's previous and ongoing illnesses, operations and hospital stays.
  • symptomSomething a patient feels and reports, such as pain, tiredness or nausea, that may show they have an illness. Doctors learn about it by asking, not by measuring.

More terms: History Taking and Examination

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.