Leading articles
Historical metaphors
Not just small adults: the metaphors of paediatrics
1 Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, and the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
2 Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Correspondence to:
Jonathan Gillis, Intensive Care Unit, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Locked Bag 4001, Westmead 2145, Sydney, NSW, Australia; jong@chw.edu.au
Accepted 21 May 2007
It is time to acknowledge that both children and adults belong to the human race
Keywords: paediatrics; metaphors; history; small adults
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
When called upon to lecture and teach others about the essential elements of paediatric practice, paediatricians usually resort to the well worn phrase "children are not just small adults".1 2 Whilst this may be a useful idea for the calculation of drug doses and the assessment of physiological parameters, the definition of child medicine in such defensive, negative and exclusionary terms carries with it some inherent dangers and misconceptions. Both children and adults belong to the human race. Progress in medicine more often than not can be applied to and be of benefit to all and the transition from childhood to adulthood should be one of continuity rather than migration. By emphasising that children are not small adults, we unconsciously negate all that is to be gained through a vision which takes in human beings throughout their lives. There are indeed special qualities in the practice of paediatrics, but
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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Williams, A N
(2008). Looking beyond the perspective of a limited metaphor. Arch. Dis. Child.
93: 184-184
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