Asthma diagnosis and long-term control — branching viva

Station opening

Examiner: "Define asthma in a child and explain why it is a clinical diagnosis rather than one made on a single test." ^[5]

Strong candidate (must-hit)

• Defines asthma as a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways producing variable, reversible airflow obstruction, presenting as recurrent, trigger-provoked, nocturnal wheeze, cough, breathlessness and chest tightness that respond to a bronchodilator; explains that there is no single confirmatory test, so the diagnosis rests on the characteristic variable pattern, the objective demonstration of variable airflow limitation, and the exclusion of the mimics; and names variability and reversibility as the two defining features. ^{[5] [10]}

Weak candidate

• "Asthma is when a child wheezes and we give them a blue inhaler." ^[5]