During the first evaluation I presented an H&P from my first week in the pediatrics ED. The patient was 18 months old and came in for fever, vomiting and other upper respiratory symptoms. The test for COVID-19, influenza, and RSV was negative and the diagnosis given at the time was viral URI. The plan was supportive care and follow up with PCP in 1-2 days. The feedback I received at the time was about the differential. There was no CBC or UA done to rule out UTI or other bacterial infections that should have been considered due to the fever. The pharm cards I presented at the first visit were drugs used in the ED and included antipyretic, antifungal, antibiotic, anticonvulsive, and bronchodilator. Professor Maida had an interesting way to evaluate our pharm knowledge, he asked us about our classmates’ cards. I was ready to answer any questions about the medications that I wrote about, but was not as prepared to discuss other medications. I made sure to study more medications before the next site visit in order to be better prepared.

            During the second site visit I presented another H&P from the ED, this one was a very different case and involved a 16 year old with Down’s syndrome, asthma, and difficulty breathing. The article I chose to present was about patients with Down’s syndrome and their susceptibility to COVID-19. The article had statistics showing that those with Down’s syndrome are more susceptible to severe COVID-19 requiring hospitalization and this occurred at about a decade younger than other patients. It explained certain aspects of these patient’s anatomy and physiology that made them more susceptible, and the ramifications of the disease on these patients. The authors also proposed a preparedness plan for future pandemics in order to reduce the risk for this population.  

The feedback I received was to not use medical terminology when writing up the HPI & ROS. When I talk to the patient or their parents I will ask in lay terms then record it using medical terms when appropriate. Going forward I will record things as they are told to me instead of translating them to medical terminology.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.