Pros and cons of Peds

[J143]

I'm trying to decide if I want to be a pediatrician and just want to hear what the consensus is on the pros and cons. I know that the life of a pediatrician used to be filled with 24 hour call, endless phone calls from distraught parents, and not a lot of money for what seems like a lot of time, but it seems to me that pediatrics is changing along with all of the other fields in medicine. There are now pediatric hospitalists and the pediatrician I worked for seemed to have a great life as part of a small group in private practice. I know that pediatricians don't make the most money, but are they really unhappy about it? My mom is a doc and she says that most of the pediatricians she knows just complain about how little money they make and how hard they have to work to make it.

I love working with kids (I surprized myself - I never thought I would end up thinking about pediatrics!) - I just need a little help figuring out what my future might look like as a pediatrician before I commit to it.



j143

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[HiFi]

most general pediatricians are at the bottom of the wage earners list ( for doctors)

keep a few things in mind:
even a low paying job as a doctor...peds start out of residency anywhere from 80K to 130K ( with a few exceptions )
The more the money, generally, the more you are working or the crappier the city where you will be living

Now 120,000 is about as much money as an airline captain makes, so you will always be in the top 10% or so of wage earners. True, you will never get rich doing general peds, and you will have to work a lot of hours, but as I have discovered, if you really love your job, then you love working a lot of hours.

I hated general peds in that I felt that over 90% of the things I saw, did not require any intervention, and never should have even been brought to attention. I got sick of parents with total obsession with ther kids poop, and 5th graders on multiple stimulants that try to light the family pet on fire, if their ritalin is 5 minutes late, etc. I found 20 minute discussions on various types of sippy cups boring.

Thank God, there is a world of subspecialties. Now I have a fast paced job with a high level of excitement, where if you do a realy god job, and try to remain progressive and practice good evidence based medicine, you can definately alter the outcome of someones life ( and I make double what gen peds makes)
There are lots of peds subspecialties , and some of them pay really well.
Managed care and reimbursement is cutting into physician salaries all across the board. For some reason, reimbursement for pediatric services appears to be particularly bad, so I don't look for salaries to go up much ( if at all ) for general pediatricians.
again, do what you enjoy. I have friends from residency that absolutely love being generalists, and take a lot of enjoyment in the relationships they have with families and the kids. It just wasn't for me but maybe you'll like it

If you like kids and want more Money, do a fellowship.

 

[TulaneKid24]

HiFi,

Is it true that Neonatologists make as much money in their first year of practice as this salary survey indicates?? It seems very high. I was under the impression that peds and even the subspecialties didn't pay that much $$$

Here is the link

http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary_surveys/physician-salaries.htm

Thanks for your reply

 

[sarahlee515]

TulaneKid-
I checked out that site--the salary for general peds was very high, even though I live in the northeast which tends to have pretty high salaries. I'm pretty sure that the neonatologist salary is high too. good luck with your career choice.