Pediatric Orthopods

[LadyMD2b]

What are the pros and cons of it? Please share your experiences.

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[skiz knot]

What are the pros and cons of it? Please share your experiences.

Pros: Orthopaedics
Cons: Pediatrics

 

[Encephalectomy]

this is a blog by a pedipod which is pretty good.

http://orthopaedic-residency.blogspot.com

 

[LadyMD2b]

Pros: Orthopaedics
Cons: Pediatrics

I understand why the ortho aspect of it is cool, but what's wrong with peds?

 

[LadyMD2b]

this is a blog by a pedipod which is pretty good.

http://orthopaedic-residency.blogspot.com

Thanks, but I couldn't find anything relating to pedipods on the blog.

 

[DoctaJay]

I just finished a sub-i on peds ortho. From what I observed, peds ortho tends to have less OR time than other ortho specialties. Also because of your patient population you usually have to work at a big university program with a children's hospital, so you often don't get the freedom of working in smaller communities like a sports guy or a joints guy would. Also, because your patients often don't have private insurance (particularly the cerebral palsy kids) then the reimbursement has been "rumored" to be on the lower side of the ortho specialties. That is what I've gathered as a lowly MS4...hope others with more knowledge can chime in.

Overall though, I actually really enjoyed peds ortho, especially the kids who are pretty awesome. Taking a kid with a 90 degree curve to straight is pretty satisfying as well as well getting a kid with OCD back to sports. Its a great field that is a great fit for some or a terrible one for others.

 

[LadyMD2b]

I just finished a sub-i on peds ortho. From what I observed, peds ortho tends to have less OR time than other ortho specialties. Also because of your patient population you usually have to work at a big university program with a children's hospital, so you often don't get the freedom of working in smaller communities like a sports guy or a joints guy would. Also, because your patients often don't have private insurance (particularly the cerebral palsy kids) then the reimbursement has been "rumored" to be on the lower side of the ortho specialties. That is what I've gathered as a lowly MS4...hope others with more knowledge can chime in.

Overall though, I actually really enjoyed peds ortho, especially the kids who are pretty awesome. Taking a kid with a 90 degree curve to straight is pretty satisfying as well as well getting a kid with OCD back to sports. Its a great field that is a great fit for some or a terrible one for others.

I've heard the rumors about the lower reimbursements as well. I think it's probably more than just a rumor though. I never thought about the fact that I would probably have to work at a large university instead of a small town. Thanks for the info. I'm growing more and more anxious for my rotation.

 

[Encephalectomy]

Thanks, but I couldn't find anything relating to pedipods on the blog.

to quote rafiki..."look harder"

 

[Jeff Smoker]

I think that Skiz Knot probably said it the most succinctly.

However, here are some of the cons. First, it is the lowest paying ortho subspecialty. That is a fact. In fact there was an article in JBJS a few years ago talking about how to attract more residents into peds fellowship and that was one of the issues brought up.

Second, more and more, community guys are refusing to see "kiddos." Be that because it's a liability issue (responsible for them until they are 18) or a reimbursement issue, it's hard to tell. Probably a bit of both. However, it's becoming an issue in the AAOS. And once you deal with parents who tell you "their kid is going to play division I basketball or football and how will this distal radius fracture affect their play" you can probably understand why you would not want to deal with these people, especially in our litigious society.

There is a high rate of non-op to operative treatment in comparison to the adult world. Which is fine, except I went into surgery to surgerize.

Finally, some people may like dealing with the CP or myelo kids, but I can tell you, not my cup of tea. Not a lot of people's cup of tea.

I guess pro's are that children generally do well. No matter what you do they usually get better. And they're usually more grateful than the crackhead who crashed his car and killed a family of four.

But I might be a bit jaded.

 

[LadyMD2b]

I think that Skiz Knot probably said it the most succinctly.

However, here are some of the cons. First, it is the lowest paying ortho subspecialty. That is a fact. In fact there was an article in JBJS a few years ago talking about how to attract more residents into peds fellowship and that was one of the issues brought up.

Second, more and more, community guys are refusing to see "kiddos." Be that because it's a liability issue (responsible for them until they are 18) or a reimbursement issue, it's hard to tell. Probably a bit of both. However, it's becoming an issue in the AAOS. And once you deal with parents who tell you "their kid is going to play division I basketball or football and how will this distal radius fracture affect their play" you can probably understand why you would not want to deal with these people, especially in our litigious society.

There is a high rate of non-op to operative treatment in comparison to the adult world. Which is fine, except I went into surgery to surgerize.

Finally, some people may like dealing with the CP or myelo kids, but I can tell you, not my cup of tea. Not a lot of people's cup of tea.

I guess pro's are that children generally do well. No matter what you do they usually get better. And they're usually more grateful than the crackhead who crashed his car and killed a family of four.

But I might be a bit jaded.

Thanks for the info. The salary and non-op treatment probably wouldn't bother me, but dealing with unrealistic parents and the liability issues might. Only time will tell, I guess.

 

[hanky1982]

I just finished a sub-i on peds ortho. From what I observed, peds ortho tends to have less OR time than other ortho specialties. Also because of your patient population you usually have to work at a big university program with a children's hospital, so you often don't get the freedom of working in smaller communities like a sports guy or a joints guy would. Also, because your patients often don't have private insurance (particularly the cerebral palsy kids) then the reimbursement has been "rumored" to be on the lower side of the ortho specialties. That is what I've gathered as a lowly MS4...hope others with more knowledge can chime in.

Overall though, I actually really enjoyed peds ortho, especially the kids who are pretty awesome. Taking a kid with a 90 degree curve to straight is pretty satisfying as well as well getting a kid with OCD back to sports. Its a great field that is a great fit for some or a terrible one for others.

I'm an MS4 and I finalizing my research comparing medicare to medicaid reimbursment rates for the 25 most common pediatric conditions. The reimbursement rates were significantly lower (68%) for the practice I looked at (over 12,000 office visits). In general, peds ortho is compensated and a much lower rate across virtually every CPT code.