Paediatric Short case

These are some tips for my colleagues who will be taking their Paeds short case in 1 week time.

Paediatric short case will be conducted in the PPUKM paediatric department, which includes the wards, the NICU, the PHDU and PICU. Each student will have 2 cases under 2 different lecturers.

Common cases are : Thalassaemia, Respiratory cases, Cardio cases, Floppy baby, Developmental assessment, Nephrotic syndrome, Neonatal assessment ****(experience may differ)

The examiner will give you a short history, e.g. "This is a 3 year old girl with fever and cough for 3 days". You must know than what to look for in the general examination! If you are told the girl present with fever and cough, don't go talking about Osler nodes, leuconychia etc, which does not lead to the symptoms you are told! Be aware of what you are saying and suggesting.

Remember, WASH your hands before touching the baby. This is extremely important in Paeds.

One of the most popular question that leaves most of us dumbfounded is "Do a general examination". Therefore please practice this. For those who have no idea what you're suppose to look for general examination, all you have to do is ask, not the examiner, but your supervisor or friends now.

My supervisor's advice to me :Stay calm, don't panic, speak clearly and be systematic, think carefully before you say anything. This is important because in the stress of facing a full Prof, whatever we said will not pass through our gray matter, and we end up presenting rubbish to the Prof.

Paediatrics is not all about developmental assessment. Don't get so obsessed with it. I mean, don't just practice DA and forget the rest. Paeds are NEVER small adults.

Neonatal assessment is one exam question that makes us happy. We can say all sort of things like mongolian blue spots, milia, ebstein pearls, erythema toxicum, Harlequin color changes etc. But then,if we don't know why we look for all that, and why is it important to look for them, what's the use? The point is, don't look just for the sake of taking exam. Please know the importance of these skin changes in the neonate.

Good luck to all Paeds! Short case is never easy, do not take for granted that when you've studied all the books under the sun, you will pass. Your technique and application is important as well. All the best!!:)