GEP Medicine in Society Handbook 2019/20
The Medicine in Society unit is the clinical contact module in Year 1 of the GEP course. Students will spend 12 days in primary care and 13 days in seconday care during the year.
5. Secondary Care Themed Days
5.13. Day 14 Theme: Paediatrics
Paediatrics
Newham has the youngest population in the country with 41% of the population being under 25. What explanations can you suggest for this demographic pattern? This, coupled with high levels of deprivation makes a challenging situation for health, education and social services but interventions in children can have a lifetime benefit.
Challenge box Some demographers and public health specialists believe that the current generation of children will, for the first time, have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Why is this possible and what social, educational or health interventions would you suggest to reverse this trend? |
Learning Issues
- What are the commonest diagnoses leading to hospital admission in children?
- What are the key expectations for children’s health services defined in the National Service Framework for children?
Learning tasks
- Of the children you see, try and classify their diagnosis into one (or more) of the following groups:
- Genetic disease with clear Mendelian inheritance or spontaneous mutation
- Multi-factorial disease in which genetics plays an important role
- Congenital abnormality
- Infectious disease
- Problem with largely social or psychological cause
- A nutritional disease
- A problem arising from complications in pregnancy or delivery
- Trauma
- If you have the opportunity, talk to the family of a child with chronic disease. What has been the impact on the child’s education, relations with peers, the parents’ work, finances and social lives? Who looks after any siblings while the child is in hospital?
- Observe children playing, how many of the skills listed on the development sheet did you see and what ages were the children?
- List the first language of every child (or parent) you see.
Reference
National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services:
Childhood Developmental Milestones:
http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devmile.htm
