Subtitle: Three Tests That You Probably Don’t Need to do for Children in Primary Care
A couple of times recently, I have urgently referred children to their GP. To some people, it might seem an odd thing for a Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine to do. Those people have not yet worked out what the specialty that is general practice excels in.
Patients often attend the Emergency Department for a second opinion soon after seeing their GP. This may be driven by the belief that the hospital doctors are specialists, while GPs are not.
Of course this is wrong. GPs are specialists and generalists at the same time. To be a specialist, you need to understand a topic or achieve a level of skill above that possessed by you colleagues in other branches of medicine.
Although General Practice’s greatest challenge is to know enough about everything (and that is enough of a feat), this is not the skill that makes a primary care clinician special. That skill is harm avoidance.
Having worked on both sides of the Primary-Secondary Care divide, I see how easy it is to treat and test, and test and treat. GPs have an incredible ability to know what to do without tests and to do as much nothing as is appropriate. In paediatrics, this makes you no less than gods of child health.
Children should not have tests done on them to reassure parents or provide thinking time for clinicians. Tests in children should always be part of a coherent question. We are making decisions on their behalf, so we owe it to them to avoid unnecessary pain, distress and anxiety.
So, as an offering to the gods, here is my list of three tests that I think are rarely indicated in children in a primary care setting.
Chest X-ray for children who ‘always cough’
CXRs are often done for two reasons. Firstly a normal CXR is perceived as a good way to rule out pathology. Secondly the test may be done to reassure parents.
Unfortunately, the ruling out thing is much more adult practice.
The first question should be ‘is there a daily cough for several weeks?’ and then ‘is it getting better?’ If yes and no respectively, then CXR is unlikely to be helpful in a child who has not developed symptoms that have landed them acutely at the doors of Secondary Care. In fact, it may not even be normal in a healthy child.
As so many of these are done in a post-infective period, there are often streaks of something to be seen. How then can we reassure the parents that all is ‘normal’? I recommend watchful waiting for intermittent or resolving coughs, and referral for persistent and worsening coughs.
Full Blood Count for children who ‘always have infections’
Much of what applied for CXRs applies again here.
I am going to propose a study into the sensitivity and specificity of FBCs in these children who are perceived to have a lot of infections. I would guess that both are poor.
Again, the strength of General Practice becomes the answer. Empirical evidence should win the day. Is the child otherwise normal? Are they growing well? Do they get normal infections and then fight them off? The answer is more likely there than in a blood test.
ECGs for chest pain and faints in children
Causes of chest pain and collapse that can be detected on a 12-lead ECG are relatively common in adults.
In children, chest pain is almost always non-cardiac and collapses are almost always vasovagal syncope.
Once again though, ‘abnormalities’ are commonplace on paediatric ECGs. Usually these are due to age or habitus and should not be over interpreted.
The question, as always, is ‘does the symptom fit a benign cause?’ For vasovagal syncope, for example, were the three ‘P’s present? (Prodrome, posture and precipitant) If not, a 12 lead ECG is not reassuring since the event remains unexplained even if the ECG is normal.
I am not saying that these tests are worthless or should never be done. They simply should not be done for the wrong reasons:
It is also important, before doing a test, to know what to do with borderline results or common ‘abnormalities’
If in doubt, call the relevant team and ask them if a test is useful or if the child will need to be referred regardless of the result. If you don’t get a helpful answer, ignore them. After all, you are the specialist.
I need to descend from mount Olympus now and leave you to your excellent job of keeping children from harmful tests. Now, where is that child I was seeing just now? I remember now, they’re in CT…
Edward Snelson MRCPCH (formerly MRCGP but I had to give it back).
www.gppaedstips.blogspot.co.uk
@sailordoctor
