Pediatric Neurology Reflection

The four weeks I spent at King Abdullah Specialist Children Hospital with the pediatrics neurology team were full of knowledge and interest. One main reason why I have chosen to be with the pediatric neurology team even though I have not taken the neurology block at my medical school yet; is that I wanted to be exposed to real neurological scenarios and get the opportunity to learn about their complexity with full responsibility. My major goals were to learn about the basics of neuroscience, to know how to take proper pediatric history and learn the basics of neurological history taking and physical examination along with dealing with children during that, and finally to experience the proper communication with different team members including

The nervous system divides generally into central and peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system composed of the brain and the spinal cord, and it is the integratory part of the nervous system, encased by bones (the skull and vertebral column) for protection. On the other hand, the peripheral nervous system is formed by the cranial and spinal nerves, and they transmit the electrical signals from and to the central nervous system.

The brain has several structure and to name them they are: the cerebral hemispheres, the diencephalon, the brainstem (midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata), and the cerebellum. Also the spinal cord can be divided into five regions named: the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal. Both the brain and the spinal cord have white and grey matter, while the brain has the white matter in the middle surrounded by the grey matter, the spinal cord has the grey matter in the center surrounded by the white matter. In both, the white matter is where the myelinated axons and some unmyelinated axons are, and the grey matter is where the somas and the unmyelinated axons are

Seizures were the top one most common diagnosis in the clinic, so I learned the different types of general and partial seizures, signs and symptoms, and treatment options. Headache is the second most common diagnosis, and because of that I read about different types of primary and secondary headaches, with unique symptoms, and management modalities. Some of the other diagnoses and conditions I have seen cases of and read about are: Rett’s syndrome, dravet’s syndrome, Alper’s disease, infantile spasms, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, early infantile encephalopathy, migraine coma, white matter disease. Interestingly, I have got the chance to be part of the team when an emergency situation took place, which was status epilepticus, and I learned how to stabilize the situation, and how to show empathy and support to the