Illness severity, deterioration and track-and-trigger systems

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Target exams

Red flags

• Rising multi-parameter score or single critical parameter with incomplete observations
• Caregiver or nurse concern that the child is getting worse despite a low score
• Falling respiratory rate or quieter child after high work of breathing (exhaustion, not recovery)
• Compensated shock with maintained blood pressure but rising heart rate and poor perfusion
• Technology-dependent child with device failure or change from personal baseline
• Hesitancy to call MET/RRT because of hierarchy, night-time staffing or fear of 'false alarm'
• Recurrent triggers without diagnosis, unexplained injury pattern or safeguarding concern

Life stages

Care settings

Clinical exam formats

Board mappings

• General and Community Paediatrics
• Current 2026 PREP curriculum — Learning Objective 2.2.1: Recognise, prioritise and manage an acutely ill infant, child or young person
• Current 2026 PREP curriculum — Learning Objective 2.2.3: Perform acute resuscitation and advanced life support
• Current 2026 PREP curriculum — Learning Objective 2.4.5: Manage transfer of an unwell newborn, infant, child or young person
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 7: Patient safety / systems
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 11: Acute care and procedures
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 12: Communication with patients, families, and health professionals
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 14: Regional, rural, and remote paediatric care
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 17: Acute care
• Clinical Applications
• Medical Sciences
• Long Cases
• Short Cases
• Patient safety, including safe prescribing
• Patient management
• Leadership and team working
• General Paediatrics: Resuscitates, stabilises and treats extremely unwell babies, children and young people
• Foundation of Practice (FOP)
• Theory and Science (TAS)
• Applied Knowledge in Practice (AKP)
• Clinical
• History
• Communication
• Video
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 7: Emergency and Critical Care
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 24: Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, and Research Methods
• General Pediatrics EPA 7: Recognizing a Severely Ill Patient, Providing Initial Management, and Mobilizing Resources Needed for Continued Care
• General Pediatrics EPA 8: Executing Clinical Handovers Within or Across Settings
• Patient Care 3: Organize and Prioritize Patient Care
• Patient Care 4: Clinical Reasoning
• Patient Care 5: Patient Management
• Systems-Based Practice 1: Patient Safety
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills 1: Patient- and Family-Centered Communication
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills 2: Interprofessional and Team Communication
• Pediatrics: Foundations EPA #1 — Recognizing deteriorating and/or critically ill patients and initiating stabilization and management
• Pediatrics: Foundations EPA #10 — Transferring clinical information between health care providers during handover
• Pediatrics: Core EPA #2 — Resuscitating and stabilizing critically ill patients
• Pediatrics: Core EPA #11 — Coordinating transitions of care for patients with medical or psychosocial complexity