Ped-Med

[Iain]

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I am not sure if I am getting too far ahead of myself here, I have only just started looking into going back to school to pursue medicine. I was looking around the site, and came across the section about specialties, and was quite intrigued about Ped Meds (although I was only able to find very little about it). Are Ped Meds generally hospital based? Am I right in saying that Ped Meds, deal with slightly more ill children then what a pediatrician would see on a day-to-day basis? If so it would certainly be something I would like to read more about; any good links?

Cheers,

 

[GeneGoddess]

I think you are talking about what is commonly called Med-Peds, which is a combined residency for both Internal Medicine AND Pediatrics. Those who do Med-Peds treat both adults and children. Some people consider it to be similar to Family Practice except without the OB/Gyn part. You are essentially trained to be board certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.

Try using Frieda to look up some Med-Peds Residency programs and look at their websites.

 

[Iain]

Oops - that is a bit embarrassing getting it around the wrong way. I should be more careful in future.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[fourthyearmed]

Med-Peds doctors don't really deal with any sicker kids than a regular pediatrician does during training. Pediatrics residencies include a great deal of time in both the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units so you will be trained to take care of really sick kinds. If this is what you are most interested I would look into doing a pediatric residency and then a fellowship in critical care. Critical care pediatricians work in hospitals in the intensive care unit. Med-Peds would be what you would choose if you can't decide if you like Internal Medicine or Pediatrics better and want to be trained to do both!

 

[GeneGoddess]

Eloquent as always, 4thyr!

 

[Iain]

Thanks guys - I have just started looking at the possibilities of medicine, so my understanding of how everything works is very elementary. 4thyear, I think you described something that I would like to research further. I am quite certain, as I progress different things will interest me - I just am a big kid myself, and with all the little monsters dressed up knocking on my door tonight, it is tough to think I would pursue anything else.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Along these same lines, how do fellowships work after a Med/Peds? Are both IM and Peds fellowships open, are their fellowships that do both, or are you limited to, say, either IM oncology OR pediatric oncology?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fourthyearmed]

There are very few combined med-peds fellowships out there right now but more are trying to be started up from what I understand. This is actually what turned me away from med-peds because I felt like I would have to choose one or the other in the end so I might as well choose now and just do peds. That being said, there are some combined fellowships out there and I think it would be a great thing to do, although it would take quite a few years!

 

[magnolia014]

http://www.med.wright.edu/medpeds/resource/page1.htm
http://www.medpeds.org/

These websites are a MUST if you are interested in learning more about a combined residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. There is also a great link into combined fellowship options for med-peds graduates.

http://www.medpeds.org/fellowship_guide.htm

Keep in mind that many med-peds graduates also decide to specialize in pediatrics subspecialty but still maintain their General IM license...for example, you can specialize in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and manage your young cancer-survivors through adult-hood. These types of physicians are also valuable in areas that don't have the population to support a full time peds heme/onc person and may want to hire you since you also do general medicine. Some specialties lend themselves very easily to combines fellowships, such as rheumatology and endocrinology.

Transitional medicine is also a niche for med-peds graduates as more and more children are surviving with "childhood" illnesses to adulthood. For example, many internist are unfamiliar with treating adults with congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, Downs syndrome, autism, etc. This is a great niche for med-peds to fill!!

Generally most med-peds graduates go into general practice or hospitalist medicine. There is a large movement in hospitalist care in this country and med-peds have great flexibility to provide care across age groups.

And lastly, do not think that all med-peds docs are people that could not make up their mind between medicine and pediatrics. Most actually choose both because they love the combination and the wealth of knowledge they can impart by becoming a "pediatrician for adults and an internist for kids" 🙂

Good luck!