Many medical schools and residency programs have had great success in
converting learning by lecture into case-based or "vignette" style learning.
Professors using vignettes when teaching students can convey important
teaching points in a relevant context that forces participants to be
proactive, rather than passive learners.
Tests in
medical school and residency have thus migrated towards the vignette model.
Testing with vignette-based questions has permeated oral exams, written
exams, and interactive, computer-based exams. So too follows the
mini-vignette style on many pediatric board exam questions, and we have
therefore produced this book, made up entirely of vignettes, followed by
question choices and discussion thereof.
We
anticipate that the second edition of this book will be a valuable tool for
exam preparation. Of course, we expect that this book will be useful and
interesting to all learners; not only to the pediatrician reviewing for
board exams, but to the broader continuum of life-long learners, from
medical school students in pediatric clerkships to seasoned pediatricians.
And finally to you who hopefully purchased this book
in preparation for your board examination or as an aid for your teaching
efforts. To the former, welcome to our discipline of pediatric medicine. May
you delight and profit from the knowledge we have tried to impart in these
pages. May you also take a minute, should you disagree with any little
thing, to inform us of inaccurate questions, statements, or answers. If
there are to be future editions, we will make sure your advice is
incorporated.
Good luck with your board
examination. May this volume make your preparations more successful.
Robert S. Daum, MD, CM
Jason J. Canel, MD, FAAP