Paediatrics · History + examination

Child with a limp - GP

MediumYear 5 · Curtin style · 15 min + 2 min reading · 4 tasks

Ready

2 min reading, 15 min station, warning at 2 min

Focus the timer and press Space to start or pause.

Station - Instructions for candidate

You are a final-year medical student on placement in a suburban Perth general practice. The GP has asked you to see the next patient with their parent and report back.

Francesca/Marco Bianchi, aged 5, has been brought in by their mother because of a limp for two days. The child is present, sitting on the mother's lap.

Practice nurse observations	HR 96 /min, RR 20 /min, SpO2 99% on room air, T 37.4 degrees C (tympanic), capillary refill 2 seconds, weight 20 kg (50th centile), height 110 cm (50th centile)

Your tasks are to:

Take a focused history from the parent, including the relevant paediatric background.
Perform a focused examination of the child's gait, hips, knees and spine. Describe to the examiner what you are looking for; the findings will be provided.
Request any investigations you consider necessary; the examiner will provide results where appropriate. State your most likely diagnosis and the differential diagnoses to the examiner.
Outline your initial management plan and explain it to the parent, including when the child must be seen again or taken to hospital.

You do NOT need to summarise your findings to the examiner.
The child is played by a mannequin or a doll for the examination; direct your explanation to the parent.
State drug, dose and route for anything you prescribe.

This is a 15-minute station, with 2 minutes of reading time.

Ask the examiner

Say what you want out loud, then open it below. Each result stays hidden until you reveal it.

Investigations

Ask for a category the way you would in the station: “Can I have the obs and a set of bloods?”

Examination

Say what you would examine and how; the examiner reports what you would find.

After treatment

Once you have acted, ask how the patient has responded.

Generated by AI for practice; check doses and pathways against eTG / AMH before relying on them.

Tasks

Take a focused history from the parent, including the relevant paediatric background.
Perform a focused examination of the child's gait, hips, knees and spine. Describe to the examiner what you are looking for; the findings will be provided.
Request any investigations you consider necessary; the examiner will provide results where appropriate. State your most likely diagnosis and the differential diagnoses to the examiner.
Outline your initial management plan and explain it to the parent, including when the child must be seen again or taken to hospital.