Canuc-Paeds

These objectives have been extracted from the Canuc-Paeds website. These are the objectives for Core Pediatric Clerkship

Medical Expert

The student is able to:

1. Demonstrate proficiency in acquiring a complete and accurate paediatric history with consideration of the child’s age, development, and the family’s cultural, socioeconomic and educational background.
2. Describe differences between the medical management of paediatric patients versus adult patients.
3. Recognize an acutely ill child.
4. Demonstrate an approach (the generation of a differential diagnoses, appropriate initial diagnostic investigations, and management plan) to the following core clinical paediatric presentations:
   • Paediatric Health Supervision
   • Newborn
   • Neonatal Jaundice
   • Fever
   • Dehydration
   • Respiratory Distress/Cough
   • Developmental & Behavioural Problems
   • Growth Problems
   • Inadequately Explained Injury (child abuse)
   • Abdominal Pain
   • Vomiting
   • Diarrhea
   • Altered Level of Consciousness
   • Seizure/Paroxysmal Event
   • Headache
   • Murmur
   • Rash
   • Bruising & Bleeding
   • Pallor (anemia)
   • Lymphadenopathy
   • Limp/Extremity Pain
   • Urinary Complaints (polyuria/frequency/dysuria/hematuria)
   • Edema
   • Sore Ear
   • Sore Throat/Sore Mouth
   • Sore Eye/Red Eye
5. Demonstrate physical examination skills that reflect consideration of the clinical presentation as well as the comfort, age, development, and cultural context of the infant, child, or adolescent.
6. Demonstrate competence with the following paediatric physical examination skills in addition to general physical examination skills:
   • Position and immobilize patient for certain physical exam skills
   • Measure and interpret height, weight, head circumference (incl. plotting on growth curve and calc. of BMI)
   • Measure and interpret vital signs
   • Palpate for fontanelles and suture lines
   • Perform red reflex and cover-uncover test
   • Perform otoscopy
   • Inspect for dysmorphic features
   • Elicit primitive reflexes
   • Perform infant hip examination
   • Assess the lumbosacral spine for abnormalities
   • Assess for scoliosis
   • Palpate femoral pulses
   • Examine external genitalia
   • Assess for sexual maturity rating (Tanner staging)

Professional

The student is able to:

1. Demonstrate professional behaviours in practice including: honesty, integrity, commitment, compassion, respect and altruism.
2. Demonstrate a commitment to perform to the highest standard of care through the acceptance and application of performance feedback.
3. Recognize and respond to ethical issues encountered in clinical practice.
4. Fulfill legal obligations as they pertain to paediatric practice (reporting child maltreatment).
5. Recognize the principles and limits of patient confidentiality as it pertains to paediatrics (age of consent, emancipated minors, disclosure of suicidal/homicidal intent, and disclosure of abuse).
6. Balance personal and professional responsibilities to ensure personal health, academic achievement, and the highest quality of patient care.
7. Recognize factors such as fatigue, stress, and competing demands/roles that impact on personal and professional performance. Seek assistance when professional or personal performance is compromised.

Communicator

The student is able to:

1. Demonstrate communication skills that convey respect, integrity, flexibility, sensitivity, empathy, and compassion.
2. Communicate using open-ended inquiry, listening attentively and verifying for mutual understanding.
3. Demonstrate a patient-centered and family-centered approach to communication which requires involving the family and patient in shared decision making, and involves gathering information about the patients’ and families’ beliefs, concerns, expectations and illness experience.
4. Acquire and synthesize relevant information from relevant sources including: family, caregivers, and other health professionals.
5. Demonstrate organized, complete, informative, legible, and accurate written/electronic information related to clinical encounters (such as: admission histories, progress notes, and discharge summaries).
6. Demonstrate clear, legible, and accurate ‘doctors orders’ (such as investigations, medication orders and outpatient prescriptions).
7. Demonstrate organized, complete, informative and accurate information in verbal patient presentations.
8. Respect patient confidentiality, privacy and autonomy.
9. Acknowledge/demonstrate the principals of dealing with challenging communication issues including: obtaining informed consent, delivering bad news, disclosing adverse medical events, and addressing anger, confusion, and misunderstanding.

Collaborator

The student is able to:

1. Work effectively, respectfully, and appropriately in an inter-professional healthcare team.
2. Demonstrate understanding of roles and responsibilities in an inter-professional health care team; recognizing his/her own responsibilities and limits.
3. Effectively collaborate/consult/participate with members of the inter- and intra-professional team to optimize the health of the patient/family.
4. Effectively work with other health professional to prevent, negotiate, and resolve inter- and intra-professional conflict.

Manager

The student is able to:

1. Demonstrate priority setting, and time management skills that balance patient care, academic responsibilities, and personal well being.
2. Employ information technology to maximize patient care.
3. Demonstrate a rationale approach to finite resource allocation in patient management; apply evidence in cost-effective care.
4. Develop management plans that demonstrate due attention to discharge planning, and recognition of key community resources to support the family once out of hospital.