I finished my Peds rotation! OK, well, sort of. I'll have to go back to this clinic in January for another five week stint, but for now, I'm finito. At least, I finished enough to call for celebration.
I'm so over children :) Is it the kids that I'm over, or the moms? Before we begin seeing patients in the afternoon, all the residents and I get together with the attending to review some topic of care. Today we were going over asthma but the conversation got a little off track and one of the residents wanted to discuss when the child should be taken away from the mother's care. You know, due to "dumb mother syndrome." See, this is the advantage of being out in the clinics. You don't learn about dumb mother syndrome, DMS, in the classroom.
The manifestation of the disorder is clear. A post pubescent female presents to the pediactric clinic with a small child assumed to be their offspring.
OK, there is more; not every mother who brings their kid in is considered "slow."
The post pubescent female mentioned above, in addition to bringing her child to the pediatrician's, will demonstrate one or more of the following:
Continues to smoke around her baby already diagnosed w asthma
Does not allow her child to be vaccinated
Fails to fill her baby's prescription
Uh, am I missing any? Please be on the lookout for these signs. The CDC has noticed a spike in DMS within the past nine months and we want to put a stop to it before we have two pandemics on our hands. Do your part and report DMS, ASAP, to your PCP, the FBI, CIA, or any other acronymous (just go with it) organization!
4 comments:
Do you want me to chastize you for not being biopsychosocial here or in person?
Or perhaps you'd rather they go to foster care? Have you seen those dismal health statistics... ?
A,
I think what the resident was teaching us that you need to go beyond the patient and recognize the social issues in the home; and appreciate how some of those issues weigh on the kid. Right? The heart of BPS medicine :)
K,
True, my two reactions to this topic of conversation were, (1) laughter, which I kept inside, and (2) How is the gov't ever going to fund and manage a system that is better than an inept, but somewhat caring mother? Amen.
Post a Comment