Welcome to Riverside Memorial Hospital!

As a new intern, right out of medical school and just getting your feet wet at Riverside Memorial Hospital, you will have lots of questions. Let me give you an idea of the work you will be doing here. You are here to work with patients. Though I will act as the primary physician and supervise your work, you are responsible for diagnosing and treating patients. You are going to have to make critical decisions about their care, such as recommending medications and suggesting how we can change course if patients are not responding to their treatments.

You have an important job, so I'd like you to work in a team with a few other colleagues. This will give you some support since my schedule is very hectic. You can work with your team to diagnose, and then I will review your plans before we start treating patients.

Your First Case

We have recently had a new patient, Ella Cruz, come to the emergency room for treatment. Ella is nine years old and the doctors in the ER have given me the impression that this is a serious case. I'm on my way to the patient interview to talk with Ella and her mother. I'd like you to join me.

There are a couple of key things you should be looking for during Ella's interview. First, you'll need to make a note of her signs. How does she appear? Is there anything you can see about her physical appearance or observe in her behavior that might give us clues to what is wrong with her? Then be aware of any symptoms. Is she complaining about anything specific -- pain? Fatigue? What does her mother say about her illness and how it has progressed?

Here's what you need to do:

• During the interview I would like you to take careful notes about Ella's signs and symptoms. You will receive Dr. Campbell's notes on the full examination after you view the interview, but first focus on what you gather from the meeting.
  
  
• Once the interview is complete, please take your notes and Dr. Campbell's interview form and start working on a diagnosis. You will need to research her signs and symptoms and develop a list of what could be wrong with her. Then you will create a differential diagnosis by prioritizing that list. I have attached the Differential Diagnosis Form we use here at Riverside Memorial. It will help you keep track of your ideas and progress.
  
  
• Finally, I would like you to make recommendations about what tests we should run to confirm or disconfirm the diagnoses in your differential.

I look forward to working with you!

Best regards,

Sophia Campbell, M.D.