Pediatrics Clerkship

Our peds rotation is 6 weeks, 3 inpatient & 3 outpatient. At Penn we are lucky in that we get to do our inpatient at CHOP, but we make up for it by driving for hrs. to outpatient sites in the greater Philadelphia area. The rumors / stereotypes are true: people on peds are nice. What makes peds difficult is that you are expected to master all of medicine for kids in 6 weeks (& remember, kids are not just small adults ... actually they kind of are, we just dose them based on body weight, but whatever, they're cute).

So now to the important stuff, how do you perform well & rock the shelf?

• General downloads for the wards - see Clinical Downloads

• Pediatrics PDA programs
• Harriet Lane Handbook - from Skyscape*
• The Red Book - from Skyscape*
• 5 Minute Pediatric Consult - from Skyscape*
• See PDA essentials for programs you should have for every rotation.

• Online Pediatrics Resources
• Congenital Syndromes - A great case based site from Yale.
• CLIPP Cases - Great breat & butter peds cases that will help you prep for the shelf. You have to register but it's free if you have a med school email address.
• Shelf exam content breakdown & sample questions from the NMBE.

• Books for the Shelf:
• BRS Pediatrics (Board Review Series)
  
• An excellent general review with pertinent questions at the end of each chapter, plus a full practice exam at the end of the book. Read this book 1st.
• This is a standout text in the BRS series & a better alternative to Blueprints or First-Aid.
  
• Case Files Pediatrics (Lange Case Files)
• Read this after completing BRS to highlight high-yield information.
  
• Easy read w. short vignettes, you are guaranteed to see similar cases on the Shelf exam.
  
• Pediatrics Pretest (Pretest Series)
• The best of the somewhat subpar question books for peds, it's okay, but unlike for Ob/Gyn Pretest + Case Files doesn't necessarily = excellent score, peds is just really broad and makes for a difficult 1st shelf.
• Much better than Appleton & Lange (stay away).

*Skyscape progams are availble as free trials, they can also be cracked giving you access to the full version. Use google to figure out how.