Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Pediatric patients are a unique subset of emergency patients, making up about one-quarter of all emergency department visits. Textbooks regarding the care of pediatric patients are almost universally organized by organ system, which does not facilitate an efficient diagnosis. Taking a case-based approach, Pediatric Emergency Medicine: Chief Complaints and Differential Diagnosis is arranged by chief complaint, using real patient scenarios to help the reader work through the inductive and deductive reasoning needed to assess, evaluate, treat, and disposition pediatric patients with urgent complaints. Cases are structured in the way in which they are presented during medical care, allowing practitioners to become comfortable with the general structure of case presentations: chief complaint, HPI, PMH, ROS, exam, and ancillary studies. This volume also discusses disease processes and their differentiations, providing in-depth knowledge regarding current standards of diagnosis and care.

• Chapter organization allows the reader to think of patients in terms of how they actually present, rather than by organ system
• Presents each case as an unknown, allowing the reader to engage in the process of critically appraising a case
• Questions for thought are given, stimulating critical thinking and deductive reasoning for diagnosis