Pediatrics

Although medicine interns don't usually see kids in the emergency department, I saw a six year old last shift. I had been pulled because I'm fluent in Mandarin and the patient and his family were Chinese-speaking only. Pediatricians often say "children aren't just little adults," and I learned (again) this true adage. Communicating with children, negotiating an examination, and understanding their fears is an entirely different skill set. One of my friends admonished me that I asked a six year old about school as a way of trying to distract him from pain. (It did not work).