The Only Paediatric History-taking Method You’ll Ever Need
Ace Your Paeds Rotation
I came up with this mnemonic while teaching medical students. It has, for me and many students, turned out to be the easiest way to remember paediatric history taking. I call it the PDF-BINDS method. Snazzy name, I know.
After having taken your presenting complaint and your history of presenting complaint, take the following histories:
P — Past medical and surgical history.
D — Drug history and allergies.
F — Family history. Draw a family tree if appropriate.
B — Birth history — ask things in chronological order. How was the pregnancy? How many weeks were they born at? What was the mode of delivery? What was their birth weight? Did they have any complications after birth? Any SCBU stay? Any jaundice?
I — Immunisations — are they up to date with their jabs? Check their red book if at all unsure.
N — Nutrition — this includes ins and outs. If the patient is a baby, are they breastfed, bottle-fed, or both? How many ounces do they drink and how often? (Remember that after a few days of life a baby needs 150ml/kg/day of milk — see here for more details on neonatal feeding). How many wet and dirty nappies a day?
D — Development — have they been reaching all their milestones on time?
S — Social and sexual histories. Take your HEADSSS history in here for adolescents. Here is also where you need to ask if they have ever had any previous social services input for anything.
Make sure to ICE your paediatric patient and their parents and you have a recipe for success! If you’re a GP trainee you can reflect on this in the Data Gathering and Interpretation section of your capability areas — also mentioned in our cheat sheet here.
You can also modify this mnemonic for use in other rotations. In my current adult medical rotation for example, I use PDFS after taking my presenting complaint and history of presenting complaint. The ‘S’ at the end reminds me to also take a gynae history if they’re a lady.
