Topic: Medical Guideline Books-6
The Pediatric Diagnostic Examination (PDF Version)
SOURCE :
The Pediatric Diagnostic Examination
AUTHORS :
Donald E. Greydanus, MD
Professor, Pediatrics & Human Development Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Pediatrics Program Director Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies Kalamazoo, Michigan
Arthur N. Feinberg, MD
Professor, Pediatrics & Human Development Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Pediatric Clinic Director Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies Kalamazoo, Michigan
Dilip R. Patel, MD
Professor, Pediatrics & Human Development Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies Kalamazoo, Michigan
Douglas N. Homnick, MD, MPH
Professor, Pediatrics & Human Development Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Director, Division of Pediatric Pulmonology Cystic Fibrosis Center Director Pediatrics Program Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies Kalamazoo, Michigan
SUMMARY :
With the advent of modern technology and specialization, there have been major advances in medicine that have greatly improved the accuracy and timeliness of diagnosis. However, with these good things come caveats :
A significant improvement does not mean perfection.
Technology is expensive, and physicians must use it with discretion.
We still must employ the art of clinical diagnosis with a thorough and skillful history and physical examination to help choose among our many technical options.
Primary care pediatricians taking care of children must learn when it is appropriate to refer to a specialist and how to present the specialist with relevant and useful information.
There are many excellent standard textbooks of pediatrics and of adult physical diagnosis, including De Gowin’s, a timeless system- atic approach to diagnosis. However, there remains a need for a more general yet concise systematic overview of pediatric diagnosis geared toward the student and resident but useful to anyone car- ing for children. The goal of this book is to present a diagnostic framework on which a learner can build his or her “databank” of diagnostic facts. The format of each systems-based chapter consists of an “Introduction,” “Physiology and Mechanics,” “Functional Anatomy,” “History,” “Physical Examination,” “Synthesizing a Diagnosis,” “Laboratory and Imaging,” and “When to Refer.” We have attempted in the “Synthesizing a Diagnosis” sections to present the material in tabular form whenever possible so that the learner has more concise and digestible information. There is some variability among the chapters because different systems lend themselves to different approaches. For example, dermatology is more of a “visual art” with less emphasis on history. Probably the most “divergent” chapter is Chapter 17, “The Psychodiagnostic Examination.” The author felt that the reader should learn to “think like a psychiatrist.”
For conciseness, we are limited in selecting the most common diagnoses, which we feel all practitioners, beginners and advanced, should “have in their heads.” However, this should never discour- age anyone from consulting books and online resources for any clinical encounter.
Medical Guideline Books