choosing peds

[aquamandude]

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hey everyone, i'm in the process of trying to decide between peds and IM. i always thought i'd prefer peds because i really like working with kids and always have. but what i've realized lately (on my PICU rotation and from some general outpatient clinic experiences) is that i really don't enjoy working with babies. i kinda feel horrible for saying it, but i'm not crazy about the pre-school age at all. i really love working with the older groups, especially pre-teens, teens, and young adults. i'd say like 10 years and up is my ideal age group. at first, i thought i'd just specialize in adolescent medicine. but from my experience and others' in my class, adolescent medicine seems to be mostly teen girls with sexual issues (even my Dean agreed with this). being a guy who is not particularly interested in women's health issues (more than men's), i don't want to spend my life dispensing birth control, etc (i know i'm exaggerating).

i really like working with kids and teens, but am just not crazy about babies. i know i probably need to specialize because thought of being a general pediatrician and doing mostly well-child checkups for the rest of my life makes me want to slit my throat.

anyone have any thoughts? is going into peds not such a good idea here? IM doesn't really thrill me either (not into the geriatric population at ALL).

 

[oldbearprofessor]

hey everyone, i'm in the process of trying to decide between peds and IM. i always thought i'd prefer peds because i really like working with kids and always have. but what i've realized lately (on my PICU rotation and from some general outpatient clinic experiences) is that i really don't enjoy working with babies. i kinda feel horrible for saying it, but i'm not crazy about the pre-school age at all. i really love working with the older groups, especially pre-teens, teens, and young adults. i'd say like 10 years and up is my ideal age group. at first, i thought i'd just specialize in adolescent medicine. but from my experience and others' in my class, adolescent medicine seems to be mostly teen girls with sexual issues (even my Dean agreed with this). being a guy who is not particularly interested in women's health issues (more than men's), i don't want to spend my life dispensing birth control, etc (i know i'm exaggerating).

i really like working with kids and teens, but am just not crazy about babies. i know i probably need to specialize because thought of being a general pediatrician and doing mostly well-child checkups for the rest of my life makes me want to slit my throat.

anyone have any thoughts? is going into peds not such a good idea here? IM doesn't really thrill me either (not into the geriatric population at ALL).

Well, there is sports medicine which would fit your bill and can be reached from a couple different routes. But, on the whole, both in training and in practice, most pediatricians, including specialists, will see infants and small children a good bit. Older kids just don't tend to need that much medical care and there are more options that families can and will choose for a lot of this care. For sure, some specialists will see a large percent of older kids (rheum comes to mind). Others will see a good many older kids but still spend lots of time with babies and small kids (endo, pulm, heme/onc, GI).

Bottom line is that the first year or two of life is the bread and butter of pedi - both general and specialty. Avoiding that is impossible in training and challenging in practice. So, you have to decide how strongly you feel about this. Some specialties, such as renal, pulmonary might fit your bill fairly well, but still have some babies and small kids.

 

[TexasRose]

hey everyone, i'm in the process of trying to decide between peds and IM. i always thought i'd prefer peds because i really like working with kids and always have. but what i've realized lately (on my PICU rotation and from some general outpatient clinic experiences) is that i really don't enjoy working with babies. i kinda feel horrible for saying it, but i'm not crazy about the pre-school age at all. i really love working with the older groups, especially pre-teens, teens, and young adults. i'd say like 10 years and up is my ideal age group. at first, i thought i'd just specialize in adolescent medicine. but from my experience and others' in my class, adolescent medicine seems to be mostly teen girls with sexual issues (even my Dean agreed with this). being a guy who is not particularly interested in women's health issues (more than men's), i don't want to spend my life dispensing birth control, etc (i know i'm exaggerating).

i really like working with kids and teens, but am just not crazy about babies. i know i probably need to specialize because thought of being a general pediatrician and doing mostly well-child checkups for the rest of my life makes me want to slit my throat.

anyone have any thoughts? is going into peds not such a good idea here? IM doesn't really thrill me either (not into the geriatric population at ALL).

Reading your post I remembered a Family doc I worked with in med school who only saw children older than 2 yrs. (and all the adults of course) Not sure that would fit your bill at all since a lot of Family includes Geri.

Not uncommon for pedi folks to have an age preference. I prefer the babies and would happily avoid most adolescents when possible. 😉

 

[socmob]

I pretty much could have written the same post as the author (don't mind dispensing BC but pretty much everything else) - looking forward to reading any add'l responses.

 

[CrazyPeds527]

I think there are a large number of people out there in medicine nowadays that have their patient preferences, disease preferences and the like; and i don't think it's a bad thing at all. However, residency seems to be all about breadth and becoming a competent whatever-you-want-to-be before you learn that subspecialty you so desire.

I love cardiology and the ICU, I really like the pre-adolescent age group and really don't care at all about behavioral pediatrics or adolescent medicine. I feel the same way as the OP about well-child checks. However, even if i am in the ICU, knowing the basics of behavioral peds and how to do a good ear exam are knowledge i need to have, because stuff always comes in handy (especially when you least expect it!)

Regarding your thoughts on IM, I would ask you, how much of IM is geriatric medicine and working with the geriatric population...something to think about (i would bet it is a LOT...it is part of the reason i didn't choose to do Med/Peds)

Anyway, all i am saying is figure out what you like most and you will figure out a subspecialty as you complete your training...your opinions may change on an age group or a disease profile, but if there are things you know you STRONGLY dislike about a certain field, i would think long and hard about it before you embark on it for a career. Anyone can do anything for a short period of time, it is the long haul that matters.

Good luck!

 

[myry]

OP--have you considered MedPeds?