Discuss one approach of the physical exam for each pediatric age group—newborn, infant, and school-age child—that differs from that for the adult patient.

Discuss one approach of the physical exam for each pediatric age group—newborn, infant, and school-age child—that differs from that for the adult patient.

Then, using Chapter 18 of your Goolsby and Grubbs text, select one common diagnosis and one less-common diagnosis for the pediatric patient. Describe how you would be able to differentiate them from each other on exam.

ANSWER

Physical Examinations in Pediatric Age Groups

Physical examination is the health check routine that Primary Care Providers (PCP) undertakes on the body to understand the general health of a person. The types of physical examinations applied by the PCPs vary depending on the pediatric ages; that is, new-borns, infants, school-age children, adolescents, and adults. This paper will, however, discuss the different physical examination methods applied for the new-borns, infants, and school-age children.

New-borns: – new-borns include babies from birth to about 2-6 months, and most of their physical examination happens in the hospital in the presence of both or one of the parents. The primary reason for carrying out such investigations is to identify health problems in their early stages and curb them before they get serious. The first thing is that the doctor must explain the tools and what he/she intends to do with them on the baby. The doctor will also direct questions to the parents with regard to the feeding styles of the baby, their alertness, and general wellbeing (Goolsby & Grubbs, 2014). The baby will then be undressed to allow the doctor to perform some body check. They will look into the baby’s eyes with a special torch to ensure their sight is satisfactory and examine the hips to ascertain the joints are rightly positioned. Finally, the caregiver examines the heart beat and the breathing process. 

Infants: – the age of infants range between 6-12 months. In most cases, infants have started developing a range of behaviours like trust, mistrust and fear of foreign bodies. As such, it is advisable that the physician performs the examinations while the infants are on their parents’ laps. Afterward, the doctor should employ distraction techniques like singing or allowing the infants to cling on familiar items (Goolsby & Grubbs, 2014). They can also make funny facial expressions. After that, the professionals need to plan their examination in the order of non-invasive to invasive approach with heart and lungs sounds first, and then moving to the ears and throat.

School-age children: – dealing with children of this age is not very difficult as they always want to remain brave, although they have a fear of pain and loss of control. Since these kids are inquisitive, they will ask a lot of questions regarding the examination equipment (Mirhoseini, Yaghoubi, Mirzaei & Lili, 2019). The examiner should be sure to give concrete answers and allow the children to air their views. Ahead to toe approach of assessment is applicable in this stage and includes the evaluation of the whole body to understand the possible health issues.

Most Common and Less Common Diagnosis Autism is the less common, while ear infections are the most common diagnosis for pediatric patients. The two disorders show more or less similar conditions, which may render their separation difficult. One of the related symptoms is that they both present a problem in the hearing. An autistic patient would fail to say his/her name when asked. Similarly, those with hearing problems will also not get the requests…