Aids to Undergraduate Pediatrics
Structured ways of reasoning about pediatric medical problems that will serve you in the wards long after you have forgotten any particular fact.
Common things are common — When you hear hoofbeats, think horse — not zebra.
Before thinking outside the box — make sure you master what's inside it.
Ask. Examine. Think. Revisit. Refine.
Clerking order is a communication format — not a thinking process. Good clinicians loop.
This model explains how to do clerking in an iterative process.
Patients describe their experience in their language — not doctors' language.
This model explains how to listen to the patient's story, identify the relevant information, and structure it into a coherent clinical history.
Powerful discriminating questions outperform many vague ones.
This model explains how to ask discriminating questions that will guide clinical reasoning and narrow the differential diagnosis and plan of management.
If you stop at the noun — you cannot diagnose.
This model explains how adjectives are not just embellishments — they are essential modifiers that can change the entire differential diagnosis.
Patients tell stories. Clinicians take histories.
This model explains how to listen to the patient's story, identify the relevant information, and structure it into a coherent clinical history.
A good summary explains everything in a few sentences.
This model explains how to distill a complex clinical case into a concise summary that captures the essential information and guides clinical reasoning.
Severity is a clinical judgement. This model explains the importance of assessing and communicating severity effectively to colleagues and seniors.
A step-by-step approach to differential diagnosis. Apply this to every diagnosis on your list. Rank, don't list. Consider negative findings. And always ask — why?
This framework explains decision making in doing investigations — from formulating a clinical question to choosing the right test to interpreting results in context.
Classify the state before you act. The acute flare is not bad luck — it is the consequence of failed maintenance. One model, every chronic disease.
Every treatment decision needs a defined endpoint.
This model teaches you when to start, when to stop, and when to escalate — without guessing.
When something in the blood is low, ask only three questions. This model applies to albumin, haemoglobin, platelets, and clotting factors — a single framework, four clinical scenarios.
Do not memorise "reticulocytes increased." Understand why. The bone marrow is central command — when soldiers fall at the frontier, reserves are deployed. When no reserves appear, the factory is destroyed.
A step-by-step approach to investigating anaemia — from MCV to reticulocyte count to bone marrow.
In preparationPlatelet plug vs. coagulation cascade — when to suspect which, and how to read the coagulation screen.
In preparationWhat each abnormal cell tells you — schistocytes, target cells, hypersegmented neutrophils, and more.
In preparation