Paediatric Surgery: An Overview for GPs

Abstract

Most paediatric surgical conditions are rarely seen in general practice. However, identifying a surgically unwell child is of vital importance as delays in diagnosis can have dire consequences. Some of the less acute paediatric surgical conditions (e.g. inguinal hernia) are encountered relatively frequently, and so GPs need to be familiar with these. As such, this article has two aims. The first is to provide a framework for the formulation of a differential diagnosis of an acutely unwell child who may have an underlying surgical pathology. The second aim of the article is to give an overview of some of the more common surgical conditions which may not present acutely but of which a working knowledge is useful.