Interactive Pediatric Cases for Senior Capstone Courses

This module includes five case scenarios that cover common pediatric problems that interns may encounter. The cases were developed for interactive small-group teaching settings. Students are provided with patient sign-outs and then have a case presented to them by a faculty member. Participants then work together to respond to the patient's clinical problems. In addition, to reviewing the management of common problems such as respiratory distress, fever, and pain, students practice using and creating cross-cover sign outs. The cases work best in groups of 10–12 students, and are most appropriate for students entering the field of pediatrics. They can easily be modified for other students entering fields that care for children (e.g., family medicine or emergency medicine). The cases are improved if you also use X-rays (teaching files are fine). Each year between 20 and 40 students participate in the case discussions. Overall rating on a Likert scale from 1–5 (with 5 strongly agree) for the cases administered in 2007 and 2008 ranged from 4.4 to the item “confident managing and signing out this type of patient” to 4.8 to the item “relevant and realistic cases.”