anyone NOT know they were a "kid person" and that they "hated working with adults" before their peds rotation? I'm a second year so I haven't rotated, love peds doctors and residents, never really thought I was that great with kids, but docs say you gravitate toward the people in a particular field, and that's a big deal in choosing where you're meant to be. Just wondering if anyone was caught off guard when they realized they wanted to work with kids instead of adults...
anyone not know they were "good with kids" until peds rotation?
- Thread starter nightowl
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I was absolutely convinced that I would be doing adult neuro or adult ID heading into my third year. I scheduled as little pediatrics as possible (avoiding all child and adolescent experiences in my psych rotation, not ranking surgery rotations that included two weeks of peds surgery, etc). My first clue otherwise came on my OB rotation, which I ended up loving. I hated being in the OR, though, and I really lost interest in the laboring mothers once the baby was out and being cared for by the pediatricians in the corner of the room. I went from OB to Peds, and absolutely loved it. I did my pediatrics in-patient rotation not at the large children's hospital, but instead in the peds wing of an affiliated community hospital, which was actually a positive. Anyone can become interested in pediatrics when you are seeing a lot of strange and uncommon cases that have been referred in... I think it means a lot more when you see nothing but bread and butter cases (asthma, RSV, osteomyelitis) and still find it rewarding.
Unfortunately, it made the rest of my third year kind of drag... I was counting down the weeks until I could work with kids again.
- Erick
Unfortunately, it made the rest of my third year kind of drag... I was counting down the weeks until I could work with kids again.
- Erick
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That's pretty much what happened with me. I am basicly the youngest in my extended family and had not spent a lot of time around kids until my peds rotation. Then I was like, hey I really enjoy being goofy all day.
Also keep in mind that just because someone is good with kids it doesnt neccessarily mean they'll enjoy pediatrics. I saw that happen with a few of my friends- it takes a strong stomach to work with the really sick children.
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I'm the 2nd oldest of 7 kids, and have no kids of my own by design. I was as shocked as anybody to discover I actually liked kids in my peds rotation in PA school. Since then I've always worked in FP or EM where I could see kids. If I had to take care of just adults all day long I'd be a very sad girl. Even a sick kid smiles sometimes and they usually get better, and most of the time they haven't caused their own illness. Babies still make me nervous but kids are good.
My mom was a preschool teacher and always made me go to her job with her when i was in elementary and junior high school and had half days. i grew up thinking that i hated kids and actually when people used to ask me what kind of doctor i wanted to be when i was in college i would say "i don't know, but definitely not a pediatrician" (NOT a story i'm going to tell at interviews!) anyway, once i did peds i fell in love with it and decided that i reeeeally don't like adult medicine. of course, i like kids now, and i realized that i especially enjoy them when i'm dealing with them one on one....large groups of them bring back bad memories 😉
