The goals for the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Elective rotation are the following:

• Develop differential diagnoses for common pediatric infectious disease presentations and learn appropriate management strategies for these diseases.
  
  
• Become familiar with appropriate laboratory tests for bacterial, viral and fungal infections and understand the basis for interpretation of results.
  
  
• Learn appropriate antibiotic management for common community-acquired infections in infants and children.
  
  
• Develop an understanding of antibiotic usage and resistance in order to recognize resistance patterns of clinical relevance and to develop possible methods of control.
  
  
• Develop an appreciation of hospital epidemiology and public health preventive measures in pediatric infectious diseases.
  
  
  • Principles of routes of transmission and preventive precautions
    
  • Understanding which diseases must be reported to the county health department and action taken by The Health Department.
    
  • Familiarity with websites that may be consulted for the most up-to-date information.
    
  • Immunizations: scientific basis for currently recommended vaccines, public policy issues, VAERS, etc.
    
  • Blood/body fluid exposure prevention.
    
    
• Case management/discharge planning for patients with infections requiring prolonged courses of antimicrobial therapy.