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Get as much information from mum as possible

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Rachel, it’s really important now that we get some important facts straight. Okay so I need a timeline of events of what has happened today. Start from the morning, how have things been? Well her brother’s been really poorly for the last couple of days. And how has he been unwell? Just sort of cough and cold, but been treated with Calpol. Okay. Uhm, sorry I’m just really concerned about her. Okay. So then, she was okay this morning, but a little quiet. And then she’s, after lunch, she had some lunch and stopped playing. And in the last sort of half hour, this rash has come out on her face. So thirty minutes ago we started to get a rash? Yeah, whenever I phoned.
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Tell me a bit more about what happened. So I took her temperature, 39.2 I think it was. Okay, have you been monitoring that for the last few days? Only since this morning, it’s her brother who has been unwell, she’s been ok. Has she had any Calpol to try and manage that a little bit? She did have Calpol first thing this morning, which was probably about twenty past nine. And actually after the Calpol she picked up a bit, she started playing, and she was fine, but then she had lunch and now she’s gone downhill quite quickly. Okay so just a bit of background, does she have any allergies that you know of?
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Yeah, she has asthma, hay fever, eczema, and a severe peanut allergy. She’s had two exposures to peanuts now, but no when she had the febrile seizure that was when she just had a fever that spiked very quickly, like this. And does she have any medical history that is relevant at all that I need to know about? Only the asthma and eczema. And any medications that you take from the doctor? She takes Piriton routinely. And Inhalers for her asthma, I presume? Yes, yeah sorry. And she lives with you here at home? Any brothers and sisters? Oh yeah you said her brother was unwell, just the one brother? Yep, yeah. And immunisation wise - are we all up to date?
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Yes, all up to date bar I think she missed her third one because she had a temperature at the time so she couldn’t have her third immunisation. Okay, thank you for that, okay so it’s really important to know all of this. We’re gonna have a good look at her now, get an examination done.

So you have now heard the history that Cam has managed to get from Rachael. Is there any other information that you can think of that would be useful to gather from her?

What questions would you now ask to help you come to a diagnosis?

At the moment, what are the two most likely causes of her rash?

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Emergency and Urgent Care for Children: a Survival Guide

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