That doctor who vaccinated you when you were little. That doctor whom you visited every year to grow up healthy and strong. The doctor who gave you medicine, shots, and maybe even a lollipop. That doctor is a Pediatrician. Continue Reading
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Explore Career That doctor who vaccinated you when you were little. That doctor whom you visited every year to grow up healthy and strong. The doctor who gave you medicine, shots, and maybe even a lollipop. That doctor is a Pediatrician.
What are the typical responsibilities of a Pediatrician?
A Pediatrician would typically need to:
Pediatricians work in diverse environments, such as hospitals, private practice offices, health maintenance organizations, community health centers, public health clinics, schools, or the military and government.
A typical setting in a Pediatrician’s office or examination room offers a pleasant working environment for children to feel at ease. Offices and rooms have children's books, toys, and activities to occupy children during waiting periods and distract them when undergoing painful procedures.
Typically, the working environment of Pediatricians would determine their attire. In their office, they would wear business casual clothes, usually donning a doctor’s coat over them. In a hospital or clinic, they may wear sanitized scrubs or business casual for consulting with patients and scrubs for sterile and operating rooms.
Pediatricians must dress in comfortable clothes and shoes, and appear professional, friendly, clean, and neat. Some may even accessorize their attire with child-friendly items or make their stethoscope appear more interesting and less threatening to their little patients by pinning on miniature stuffed animals.
A fair number of Pediatricians work part-time, making Pediatrics unique in medicine. General Pediatricians are more likely to work part-time than subspecialists who generally work more hours than the generalists. Full-time work may average to 43 hours a week, with just over 36 hours spent with patients.
Working from home at least once a week allows Pediatricians, both generalists and subspecialists, to catch up on work such as emails or patient charting. Most of your training and residency will demand long and unstable schedules. Under normal circumstances, you may work typical office hours alongside other physicians but stay prepared to respond to medical emergencies.
Pediatricians are essential in a variety of settings that range from healthcare to education. There are likely to be differences in employment opportunities, typically ranging from the highest in suburban areas, followed by urban and inner-city settings, and the least in rural areas. Working as salaried employees of group medical practices appears more likely than starting a solo practice.
Pediatricians are generally employed by:
Pediatricians may join local, regional, or national associations and societies, some of which are members of the International Pediatric Association (IPA). The IPA, a partner of WHO and UNICEF, connects Pediatricians worldwide, who have a common goal to foster improvements in child and adolescent health and rights.
Pediatricians have the opportunity to attend the IPA Congress typically held every three years. You can also join pediatric specialty associations, focusing on specific areas such as social pediatrics, behavioral issues, and diabetes among children and adolescents.
A three to four-year residency, which commonly takes place in a hospital, provides invaluable hands-on learning experiences to Pediatricians-in-training. Work experience, paid or voluntary, within the pediatrics department of a recognized hospital can help you stand out in a competitive field. A Run-of-the-Mill Day in the Life of an Intern The day begins with waking up at 4:30 a.m., grabbing breakfast, and getting ready for the day. After reaching the hospital, you walk through the lobby at 5:50 a.m., swipe in for the day, and drop your things off in the resident’s workroom. Say hello to the night team at 6 a.m. and start receiving signouts on your patients. Sit back, enjoy your coffee, chart review, put on some fun music, and be prepared to start the day!
Start with pre-rounding on patients and checking in with their nurses at 7:30 a.m. once they get the reports. Start working at 8 a.m. on progress notes for the morning, so they are ready for final updates after rounds. Place orders, call consults, work on discharging patients, and finish progress notes by 10:30 a.m. Grab some lunch and touch base with the medical students at noon.
Go on to check in on your patients to see how things are going. Sign all progress notes and send them to the Attending Physician for a final review at 1 p.m. If all work from the morning is over, it’s time to start accepting admissions from the ER. Check back in on patients and update them with new information on their care.
If there’s time, join them out on the play deck. Prepare signout, so the night team is ready to hit the ground running. Signout patients to the night team by 5 p.m. and maybe even bring them a snack from the resident room. End the day on a high note as you bid your patients farewell and head home. A Cookie-Cutter Day in the Life of a Second-Year Resident The alarm goes off at 5:15 a.m. You rush to shower, eat breakfast, make coffee, and pack lunch. Head off to work at 5:55 a.m. in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and arrive at PICU to sign out. Meet the medical students who will be co-carrying your patients, read up on the new admission note in the EMR, and review everyone’s overnight nursing notes, labs, and vitals.
Start on notes for each patient at 7 a.m. while assisting each medical student with their discharge notes. Pre-round, examine, and discuss each patient with their parents at 7:30 a.m. Review your medical student’s presentation at 8:00 a.m., do some quick teaching on your physical exam findings and presentation techniques. Start rounding on the overnight admissions first at 8:20 a.m. Start with the sickest patients and round on each patient with their families.
Rounds end at 11 a.m. as you reach out to all consultants, update orders, and add final physical exams and updated plans to your notes for the day. Microwave your lunch at 1 p.m. and take time to eat while reviewing your medical student’s discharge summary. Give feedback on note writing and answer questions.
The day goes by as you call a patient’s care provider with updates on care before discharge, leave a message for a return call, or discharge the patient. Attend family meetings where you discuss and review outpatient palliative care options until 2 p.m; catch up on emails missed over the weekend; At 4 p.m., check on each patient and make sure the nursing staff needs no further orders before leaving for the day; sign out at 5 p.m. A Regular Day in the Life of a Senior Resident The alarm goes off at 6 a.m. Grab some fresh fruit and homemade yogurt in hand as you head out to the clinic at 6:45 a.m. Enjoy a few tidbits of knowledge until you swing over to the Allergy and Immunology department at 8 a.m. Get some lunch in the cafeteria at 12:30 p.m. before driving over to the clinic.
Arrive at the clinic and set up your computer while grabbing a coffee at 1 p.m. Check the schedule to find your 1:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. patients arrived at the same time. It’s a good thing you’ve practiced prioritizing! Work on patients until the afternoon and stop by the office to get some guidance. Wrap up with your last patient at 5:15 pm and head home for the day.
A bachelor's degree with plenty of coursework in biology, physics, math, chemistry, and English followed by a four-year medical degree is a must for aspiring Pediatricians. Medical schools may teach their students holistic medicine approaches, integrative medicine approaches, or alternative and complementary medicine options.
Medical rotations at the end of the program allow students to experience different specialties within the field, such as Pediatrics. The first two years comprise classroom and laboratory learning. In comparison, the last two years involve clinical experience under licensed physicians’ supervision, resulting in either a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree.
Certification from accredited institutes of pediatrics usually requires a valid medical license and proof of residency. It also requires a written evaluation from the residency director, reviewing the candidate's professional knowledge and behavior, clinical judgment, attitude, and other work skills and habits.
Dual certification may be available in immunology and pediatric pulmonology or pediatric rheumatology.
From postsecondary education and residencies to a licensing examination, a typical career path in Pediatrics could take as long as 11 years. Pediatric residents usually gain specialized education in Pediatrics and soon transition into establishing one’s practice.
Career progression depends on performance, experience, and acquisition of professional qualifications. Pediatricians with consistently high levels of performance have greater chances of expanding their practice.
Individuals who have patience, empathy, and a healthy sense of humor coupled with the essential medical knowledge and expertise required to treat children will have the best job prospects.
Pediatricians typically require higher levels of intelligence than the average career. They are required to actively learn new things related to their discipline and solve complex problems. Specializing in a specific field of Pediatrics or simply shifting from a general Pediatrician to a specialized one is a considerable step in professional development.
Continuing professional development in the form of conferences, seminars, workshops, and renewal of certification and licensure ensures that a Pediatrician improves on existing services by learning new and improved techniques. Those who actively choose to expand their skill-sets and meet the requirements of their respective regulatory bodies will be in favorable positions professionally.
The Start and Evolution of Pediatrics as a Separate Medical Field
Children first started to be considered a separate population group for medical care in 18th century Europe. Acquiring recognition as a medical specialty early in the 19th century, Pediatrics came to be taught separately in medical schools by the mid-19th century. The first Pediatric clinic in the United States opened in New York City in 1862, with several children's hospitals opening in Europe almost simultaneously.
Earlier studies focused on developing treatments for infectious childhood diseases such as measles and scarlet fever. The start of the 20th century saw well-child clinics open around the United States, as Pediatricians began promoting the normal growth and development of children.
Some of the most significant breakthroughs in children's health care have been disease prevention. By the middle of the 20th century, the development of vaccines and antibiotics substantially decreased the threat of infectious diseases.
General Practice Pediatricians
General Practice Pediatricians in physicians' offices carry out routine physical exams, administer immunizations, do regular health screenings, and specialized physical reviews for school, sports, camps, or employment. They treat minor injuries and ailments, diagnose medical conditions, and refer to specialists, severe or chronic conditions.
Staff Pediatricians
Hospitals and clinics often employ Staff Pediatricians to care for their young patients. Hospital-based Pediatricians provide mainly the same services as those in private practice, although they might tend to a higher number of pediatric emergency calls.
Professors
If you are inclined towards academics, you could work as a professor in a medical school, teaching aspiring Pediatricians the ins and outs and the critical nuances of providing medical care to individuals during their lives from birth through to the end of adolescence.
Volunteers in Society
Pediatricians may also spend time outside of their professional duties, helping the community through education, assisting schools and the government, taking up professional association activities, or providing free medical care to the needy through free camps.
A Pediatrician takes care of the physical health of children, adolescents, and young adults while advocating for their overall welfare. Pediatricians may undertake charity by giving needed clothing, food, and toys to children. They may collaborate with schools to build safe playgrounds and with libraries to start reading programs.
They may also advocate for banning the use of lead-based paints in homes and schools and promoting the use of smoke detectors in apartments and teaching children and families how and why to use seat belts and bike helmets. Pediatricians may also take on advocacy to persuade lawmakers to write or change laws that protect or foster children’s health.
Pediatricians live amid the great mystery of life, in a world of eternal youth and development. Pediatrics is a constant reminder of the unconquerable dance of life.
The nature of Pediatrics demands long hours, sleepless nights, and heavy responsibilities. Pediatricians need tremendous emotional strength, especially when dealing with children who are critically ill or in great pain.
A Swedish doctor Nils Rosen von Rosenstein, who wrote “the first modern textbook” in this field, published in 1764, is considered to be the founder of Pediatrics as a specialty.
What do Pediatricians do?
A Pediatrician would typically need to:
Accredited
$128,710
