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3 stations / 51 steps/ 21 script lines

Paediatrics

Two historians and a patient who may be three or thirteen. The history changes shape with age; HEEADSSS is written out in full so every question is ready to ask.

0 of 51 steps

First contact

  • Take a full, focused or interval history as the setting demands; from the parent and, as they mature, the child.
  • Strike up a conversation with child and caregiver about common interests; talk to the child to show you are interested in them.
  • Watch the parent-child interaction: is this a happy, strained, tense or anxious family? The family's concern may differ from the chief complaint.Is there a specific illness you are worried about?
  • Discuss the limits of confidentiality, with or without the parents in the room: immediate risk of suicide or harm, abuse of a child under 16, and some STIs are reportable.

History of present illness

  • OnsetWhen were you first concerned about your child's health? When were they perfectly well in the past?
  • Management so far: what physicians have said, investigations, treatments; contacts and exposures if infectious.

Neonatal history

  • Review the maternal perinatal record if available: birth weight, gestational age.
  • Newborn problems: prematurity, respiratory distress, jaundice, infection, Apgar, resuscitation, hospitalization, NICU stay.
  • Pregnancy: GTPAL; maternal illness (hypertension, diabetes); labour duration, delivery type, prenatal care, infections, drugs, alcohol, medications.

Growth, diet, development

  • Diet: amount, type and method of infant feeding, variety of foods, mealtime behaviour, when solids started, intolerances, preferences and restrictions, prior growth concerns.
  • Development: depth depends on age and complaintHow is your child doing at school? Have the teachers been worried?
  • Immunizations: everything received, anything missed.
  • Family history: consanguinity, genetic disorders, early childhood deaths, illness relevant to the presentation; names, ages and health of siblings and parents.
  • Social history: home environment, school and peer relationships (IHELLP, HEEADSSS).
  • Review of systems tailored to age: neonate, infant, toddler, school age, adolescent.

Demonstration videos are embedded from their creators’ own YouTube channels (Geeky Medics and Stanford Medicine 25) and remain theirs; each frame credits the channel and links out to it.