Pediatrics February 8th to March 5th at VGH
Week 4
During my last week I had to balance the duties of PAW and my pediatric rotation. It was a really busy week but I was still able to have many good learning opportunities. During this week I attended lectures on lymphadenopathy, crohn’s disease and bedside teaching on a PICU RSV patient. During this week I also attended the Pediatric Asthma Outpatient Clinic and was exposed to asthma care for children from 2.5 to 17 years old. My preceptor and I also had discussions on ALL, medication administration and PAH. I really enjoyed this rotation, I was able to be an active member of the medical team and provided recommendations and reviewed patients therapy with residents and medical students.
Week 3
During my third week I have tried to take on more challenging patients. I have worked up patients with nephrotic syndrome, anoxic brain injuries, pancreatitis and drug exposures in utero. I have also spent time this week learning about TPN in pediatrics and gained some experience with the calculations and decisions around how much fat, dextrose and protein to give based on age, fluid status and disease state.
Week 2
During my second week I worked with a 4th year Pharmacy Student to prepare a Journal Club presentation (see link below to handout and article). I also attended Resident teaching sessions on Fluids and Asthma in Pediatrics. I also worked up patients with asthma, croup, NAS, GI bleeding and renal stones. I tried to get more experience interviewing parents and being involved in patient examinations and working with the medical team. I also had therapeutic discussions on seizures, pneumonia, hypertension and pain.
Week 1
During my first week in pediatrics I worked patients with bronchiolitis, asthma, HSV, CF and appendicitis. I have started to learn more about pediatric doses and have found the reference from SickKids in Toronto to be very helpful. I have used this reference to find the appropriate therapy for SBE post surgery in a high risk patient and for medications in CF. I have also tried to work with the residents and nursing staff to answer drug information questions and counsel patients. I also attended a teaching session about poisonings in children which focused on street drug experimentation and previous cases of PICU patients.
