Board preparation
Clinical teaching and practical ideas for your next study session.
AOM Watchful Waiting: Reconstruct the First-Visit Decision
Use a time-anchored method to decide whether a child with acute otitis media qualified for observation at the first visit—and distinguish initial eligibility from failure after 48–72 hours.
Van Wyk–Grumbach Syndrome: When Extreme TSH May Mimic FSH
A focused board-prep guide to the proposed FSH-receptor cross-activation by extreme TSH in profound primary hypothyroidism—and how to explain the mechanism without equating shared subunits with identical hormones.
Pediatric Crohn vs UC MCQs: Rank the Clue, Not the Diagnosis
A granuloma can be the strongest Crohn-versus-UC discriminator in an MCQ without being a required Crohn finding. Learn to rank clues, avoid overcalling, and retrieve the distinction.
Severe BPD on Pediatrics Boards: Counsel About Risk Without Overclaiming
Practice describing the long-term risks linked to severe BPD without turning population-level associations into predictions about one child.
Neonatal Polycythemia SAQs: Calculate the Partial Exchange Volume
A focused SAQ guide to estimating partial-exchange volume in symptomatic neonatal polycythemia, checking your hematocrit arithmetic, and handling protocol-dependent assumptions.
Pediatric DKA Boards: What a Potassium of 4.2 Means for IV Fluids
Normal serum potassium in pediatric DKA does not mean normal body stores. Practice turning a potassium of 4.2 mmol/L after urine output into a safe, monitored IV-fluid plan.
Pediatric Iron-Deficiency Anemia SAQs: Don’t Double-Count TSAT
A short answer asking for three iron findings also tests your lab logic: distinguish iron stores, circulating iron, and transport capacity—and recognize that transferrin saturation is calculated, not independent of serum iron and TIBC.
Pediatric LDL-C 175: Don’t Mix Legacy and 2026 Statin Rules
An LDL-C of 175 mg/dL after lifestyle therapy is not a stand-alone statin answer. Separate the legacy NHLBI risk-factor table from the 2026 pediatric familial hypercholesterolemia recommendation—and practice stating what the stem does and does not establish.
Pediatric Hypertension Boards: Read Renin and Aldosterone
Learn to derive the classic high-PRA/high-aldosterone renin-driven renovascular pattern and the low-renin/low-aldosterone pattern of Liddle syndrome—and why neither pair alone proves the diagnosis.
Croup MCQs: Why Quieter Stridor Can Signal Worse Obstruction
For croup questions, judge the whole respiratory pattern—not stridor volume alone. Learn how to distinguish stridor at rest and increased work from fatigue, poor air entry, and impending failure.
CAH Genetics on Pediatrics Boards: What the 25% Risk Means
Learn what a 25% recurrence risk means in 21-hydroxylase-deficient CAH, which parental-genotype assumptions it depends on, and how to avoid confusing affected and carrier outcomes.
NOWS Signs on Pediatrics SAQs: Map the Domain to the Case
A NOWS domain-and-example short answer is an evidence-mapping task: retrieve the three sign domains, then use only findings actually described in the newborn. Practice the distinction without mistaking nonspecific clues for diagnostic criteria.