Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Coarctation of the Aorta Sample question: A 5-year-old girl with Turner syndrome is found to have systolic hypertension. Further examination reveals diminished femoral pulses. Which of the following is the best initial test for establishing the most likely diagnosis?

Reviewed January 2024 Central Cord Syndrome Sample question: A 71-year-old man presents to the emergency department after falling on ice outside his home. He reports neck pain. He has an abrasion on his chin and decreased strength in his bilateral upper extremities. Strength is intact in his lower extremities. Which mechanism of trauma is most read more…

Today’s teaching image is about alkaptonuria, or black urine disease. For more teaching images, try a free trial of our board review qbanks.

Reviewed February 2024 Supracondylar Fracture Sample question: A 5-year-old girl presents to the ED with right elbow pain after falling on her outstretched hand. Physical examination reveals limited range of motion, swelling, and pain of her right elbow. No neurologic deficits are noted, and pulses of her right upper extremity are normal. X-ray reveals a read more…

Today’s teaching image is about traumatic iritis. For more teaching images, try a free trial of our board review qbanks.

Reviewed February 2024 Scabies Sample question: An 8-year old girl presents to the clinic because of intense pruritus of the interdigital folds and abdominal area. She feels the pruritus more at night and her younger siblings have the same symptoms. On physical examination, threadlike burrows and papular eruptions with excoriations are noted on the interdigital read more…

Reviewed January 2024

Reviewed January 2024

Reviewed February 2024 Sample Question: A 61-year-old man with hypertension is brought to the emergency department 20 minutes after having a generalized tonic–clonic seizure. He has had recurrent headaches over the past 6 months. He frequently travels throughout South America, where he swims in fresh water and eats street food, including meat and fish. He read more…

We already know the pass rate for the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Certification Exam hovers around 85%. This article is going to show two very easy ways to help increase your Pediatric Emergency Medicine Certification Exam score by 10%. If you are not familiar with the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Certification exam, here is a detailed outline of the topics that may appear on your exam. 

While there is no magic pill or wand to significantly increase your exam score, these two techniques are the most useful, easy to implement and only requires a little of your time. This means anyone can take advantage of them. The first tactic is to use a system over a couple of months to identify what you don’t know. Sounds easy, right? The key is to go through a curriculum and identify what you don’t know – not what you are weak at – but what you don’t know. The second strategy is to take advantage of human error. Tests are written by humans, of course, and humans make errors. This article will show you 5 very easy techniques to narrow down an answer choice to either the correct answer or to a 50/50 probability – even without knowing anything about the topic. By combining these two strategies, you’ll be able to increase your Family Medicine certification score by 100 points – which could be the difference between passing or failing. Let’s get started.

Reviewed March 2024 Pyloric Stenosis Sample question: A 3-week-old boy presents with two days of nonbilious projectile vomiting. Examination reveals a mass in the infant’s right upper quadrant. On a barium upper GI series report, the radiologist states a string sign is present. Which of the following is this infant at greatest risk of developing?

Reviewed January 2024 Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) Syndrome Sample question: A 23-year-old man presents to your clinic with intermittent episodes of chest discomfort, heart palpitations, and decreased exercise tolerance. Which of the following ECG findings would most strongly suggest a diagnosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome?

Reviewed February 2024 Fat-Soluble Vitamin Deficiencies Sample question: A 2-year-old boy is brought by his parents to the clinic because of opacity and hyperpigmentation of both eyes. His skin is noted to be dry and scaly, especially on the arms, legs, shoulders, and buttocks. He also gets sick frequently. Physical examination reveals an afebrile and read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Sample question: A 28-year-old woman presents to the physician because she and her partner have been trying to conceive for the past year without success. She reports irregular menstrual periods, with cycles ranging from 20 to 50 days apart. Physical examination reveals acne and hirsutism. Her body mass read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Ulcerative Colitis Sample question: A 23-year-old man presents to the clinic with persistent bloody and mucoid diarrhea, severe abdominal cramps, weight loss, and fatigue for the past 2 months. His vital signs are within normal limits. Examination is significant for tenderness in the left lower quadrant and hypogastrium. Stool culture, examination for read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) Sample question: A 19-year-old woman presents with 4 days of high fever, headache, and myalgias. She also developed a blanching erythematous rash with macules on her wrists and ankles that spread to her trunk. She reports no history of distant travel but was camping at a local read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Anticholinergic Toxidrome Sample question: A 28-year-old man presents with his friends to the ED with altered mental status. The patient has no known medical or allergic history. His friends state that he was well until 1 hour ago. They have been camping, “living off the land,” and eating an assortment of berries read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Kawasaki Disease Sample question: A 4-year-old boy presents to the emergency department with his parents because of a rash and fever for 7 days. His temperature is 102.9°F (39.4°C) and heart rate is 120 bpm. Physical examination demonstrates bilateral conjunctival injection, an erythematous tongue, and anterior cervical lymphadenopathy. The patient has a read more…

Reviewed January 2024 Tetralogy of Fallot Sample question: A 1-year-old girl presents to the emergency room after her mother noticed that she became blue while crying. The patient subsequently squatted on the ground and the mother noticed a resolution in the cyanosis. On physical exam, the patient is now calm and vital signs are normal. A loud read more…