A Good Family History is a Web 2.0 application developed by
David W. Stockton, MD, FACMG, to facilitate good documentation
of family medical history information. It was initiated in 2006 with
partial support from AHRQ.
Its original design goals were to provide:
A storage mechanism for family data that is easily updated
The ability to store information with the flexibility, detail and accuracy
needed for good genetic patient management
Presentation of family medical information in standard formats easily
interpreted by health care professionals familiar with pedigree analysis
and suitable for including in a patient's medical record
From the outset A Good Family History was not intended to be,
and should not be considered, a medical record.
Medical records are not changeable while family histories are dynamic
and continuously changing.
Documentation for a medical record, however, is easily generated from
the data stored in A Good Family History.
Because the information contained in A Good Family History may
be sensitive, extensive measures have been implemented to achieve security
and maintain privacy.
The name 'A Good Family History' was selected because, at the time
Dr. Stockton started working on this, what was available was
very poor.
In his estimation they were only capable of collecting 'Bad' family histories,
so in reponse he decided to create something to collect a 'Good' family
history.