WCM-Q forum discusses abdominal surgical emergencies in children

Diagnosing serious abdominal emergencies in children and distinguishing them from more benign complaints was the subject of the latest Grand Rounds lecture at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q).The talk was delivered by Dr Dewesh Agrawal, professor of Paediatrics and Emergency Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine, and director of the Paediatric Residency Programme at the Children’s National Medical Centre in Washington, DC.Addressing an audience of medical students, faculty members and other healthcare professionals, Dr Agrawal said many children who are suffering from abdominal complaints, particularly very young children, often appear before doctors with very vague symptoms.Dr Agrawal said, “Most children with true abdominal surgical emergencies present with non-specific signs like vomiting, fussiness, or abdominal pain. Our job is to work out which one of those kids has something else more serious than simply constipation or gastroenteritis.”Dr Agrawal explained how to diagnose appendicitis in a toddler who may present with vomiting and abdominal pain. He also reviewed the diagnosis and management of other abdominal surgical emergencies, including malrotation presenting with midgut volvulus, intussusception, and infantile pyloric stenosis. During his three-day visit to Qatar, Dr Agrawal also toured medical and educational facilities in the country, gave a number of presentations and met with senior medical executives and medical students. Dr Agrawal spent his first day in Qatar meeting with students and faculty at WCM-Q, as well as presenting to faculty and students on giving effective feedback to medical trainees. He also interacted with WCM-Q students in several other activities, including viewing their research presentations. On his second day he toured HMC’s Paediatric Emergency Center in Al Saad and then HMC’s Al Wakra Hospital.On the third day of his visit, Dr Agrawal visited Sidra, joined the clinical activities there, and met with Dr Ibrahim Janahi, professor of Clinical Paediatrics, chair of Medical Education and division chief of Paediatric Pulmonology at Sidra Medicine. He then met with Dr Khalid al-Ansari, chair of the Department of Emergency at Sidra. He also presented a talk on evidence-based medicine biostatistics to the paediatric resident doctors.Dr Agrawal said, “It was such a joy to visit Doha through the WCM-Q visiting professorship programme. I was extremely impressed not only by the quality of the curriculum and facilities, but also by the quality of trainees — both medical students and residents — and faculty that I met. I sincerely hope that the trainees benefited from my interactions with them, for the highest achievements of our careers in academic medicine are the people we train.”