Recognising the seriously ill child and paediatric assessment triangle

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Target exams

Red flags

• Reduced interaction, abnormal tone, inconsolability or altered responsiveness
• Severe work of breathing, poor air entry, fatigue or decreasing effort
• Pallor, mottling, cyanosis, weak pulses or worsening perfusion
• Ongoing convulsive seizure at 5 minutes
• Clinically dangerous low glucose or failure to improve after correction
• Deterioration despite treatment or need beyond local capability
• Caregiver concern, recurrent presentation or unexplained deterioration

Life stages

Care settings

Clinical exam formats

Board mappings

• General and Community Paediatrics
• Current 2026 PREP curriculum — Learning Objective 1.2.1: Communicate with a child or young person in a way which is appropriate to the position of that child within their own culture
• 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 2.4.4: Assess and manage infants, children and young people with potential cardiac, respiratory or neurological emergencies or acute sepsis
• 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 5: Clinical assessment – essential general paediatrics
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 6: Clinical management – essential general paediatrics
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 9: Clinical assessment and management – child safety and maltreatment
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 10: Clinical assessment and management – developmental and behavioural paediatrics
• 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 15: Essential general paediatrics
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 17: Acute care
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 20: Child safety and maltreatment
• Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 21: Regional, rural, and remote paediatrics
• Clinical Applications
• Medical Sciences
• Long Cases
• Short Cases
• 2. Professional skills and knowledge: Communication
• 3. Professional skills and knowledge: Clinical procedures
• 4. Professional skills and knowledge: Patient management
• 6. Leadership and team working
• 7. Patient safety, including safe prescribing
• 9. Safeguarding vulnerable children
• General Paediatrics: Resuscitates, stabilises and treats extremely unwell babies, children and young people, liaising with specialist teams, as necessary
• General Paediatrics: Assumes the role of Acute Paediatric Team Leader, liaising with primary care services and other hospital and community specialist teams to effectively manage and coordinate patient flow, staffing, safety and quality in the paediatric acute assessment and inpatient units
• General Paediatrics: Recognises, investigates and manages safeguarding issues, including providing advice to general practitioners, other healthcare professionals and social care providers
• Foundation of Practice (FOP)
• Theory and Science (TAS)
• Applied Knowledge in Practice (AKP)
• Clinical
• History
• Communication
• Video
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 1: Preventive Pediatrics/Well-Child Care
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 7: Emergency and Critical Care
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 8: Child Abuse and Neglect
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 23: Ethics
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 24: Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, and Research Methods
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Universal Task 1: Physiology and Pathophysiology
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Universal Task 2: Epidemiology and Risk Assessment
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Universal Task 3: Diagnosis
• General Pediatrics Content Outline — Universal Task 4: Management and Treatment
• 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
• General Pediatrics EPA 10: Leading Interprofessional Teams to Provide Collaborative, Family-Centered Care
• General Pediatrics EPA 11: Promoting Equitable Care at the Level of Each Individual Patient and the Population to Address Racism and Other Contributors to Health Inequities
• Patient Care 3: Organize and Prioritize Patient Care
• Patient Care 4: Clinical Reasoning
• Patient Care 5: Patient Management
• Systems-Based Practice 1: Patient Safety
• Systems-Based Practice 3: System Navigation for Patient Centered Care – Coordination of Care
• Systems-Based Practice 4: System Navigation for Patient-Centered Care – Transitions in Care
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills 1: Patient- and Family-Centered Communication
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills 2: Interprofessional and Team Communication
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills 3: Communication within Health Care Systems
• Medical Expert
• Pediatrics: Transition to Discipline EPA #1 — Performing and presenting a basic history and physical examination
• Pediatrics: Foundations EPA #1 — Recognizing deteriorating and/or critically ill patients and initiating stabilization and management
• Pediatrics: Foundations EPA #8 — Communicating assessment findings and management plans to patients and/or families
• Pediatrics: Foundations EPA #10 — Transferring clinical information between health care providers during handover
• Pediatrics: Foundations EPA #11 — Coordinating transitions of care for non-complex pediatric patients
• Pediatrics: Core EPA #2 — Resuscitating and stabilizing critically ill patients
• Pediatrics: Core EPA #8 — Recognizing and managing suspected child maltreatment and/or neglect
• Pediatrics: Core EPA #10 — Leading discussions with patients, families and/or other health care professionals in emotionally charged situations
• Pediatrics: Core EPA #11 — Coordinating transitions of care for patients with medical or psychosocial complexity