Chasing Fevers: An Interactive Exercise for Pediatrics Residents on Triaging and Assessing Inpatients With Fever

Introduction Pediatrics residents are frequently tasked with triaging fevers in pediatric inpatients. The variety of clinical scenarios in the inpatient setting—patients with a multitude of diseases and a spectrum of risk for invasive infection—makes this task challenging. To enhance our residents’ training on this topic, we developed an activity providing explicit instruction on how to approach these patient scenarios. Methods The 45-minute activity began with an interactive discussion on approaching pediatric inpatient fevers, followed by a case-based exercise where small groups were assigned one of six clinical scenarios involving inpatients with fever. Learners discovered new information about their patient by drawing paper slips out of a container. Each slip could take their patient's story in a different direction. Small groups discussed decision-making options for their assigned case at each step. Among the potential events were rapid response calls—acute issues requiring immediate assessment—in which learners competed for limited seats to determine who would respond to the call. The activity concluded with a discussion about treatment of inpatient fevers. Results Respondents to the postevent evaluation rated the activity as highly engaging, effective in helping them achieve its learning objectives, highly relevant to their career, and effective in simulating real-life clinical decision-making situations. Discussion This instructional technique offers a unique, engaging, case-based approach to teaching about inpatient fever management in which instructors facilitate and support learners’ articulation of clinical reasoning. Future directions include using this technique for other common clinical problems and with other learner groups.