Pediatric Social Media

[SurfingDoctor]

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So like where do people go these days? I noticed that this forum has slowly died over the years, so where do people go? Is it Reddit? Is it TikTok? Is it Instagram? I don't really care so much as I am curious because forums seem like they are less and less the place to go for younger generations.

Part of me slightly worries that trainees are just getting information that fits their own beliefs (like most curated social media) but that seems counterproductive. But maybe not... anyway...

Where are people going, because I know everyone is addicted to the internet, but they aren't addicted to this place... and pediatric trainees are no exception.

 

[Ladholyman]

They're getting their brain rot through short form video - TikTok, Instagram, etc.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

I agree that there is little interest among trainees and younger folks in debating issues in most medical specialties in these types of forums. Most such discussions have moved to video formats, not reddit or X. I think some of the reason is fatigue in public discussions of vaccinations, etc and some is just a preference for short videos in communication.

With that said, lets take a pediatric look at an issue being debated on X. Should med students interested in pediatrics do research in med school? Is that useful? A waste of time? If so, how much and what type?

 

[SurfingDoctor]

I agree that there is little interest among trainees and younger folks in debating issues in most medical specialties in these types of forums. Most such discussions have moved to video formats, not reddit or X. I think some of the reason is fatigue in public discussions of vaccinations, etc and some is just a preference for short videos in communication.

With that said, lets take a pediatric look at an issue being debated on X. Should med students interested in pediatrics do research in med school? Is that useful? A waste of time? If so, how much and what type?

Short videos? God help us. My kids are unfortunately addicted to YouTube shorts and TikTok. I suppose in another 10 years, it'll be something else. I also suppose I'm too old, but I just don't get it. Frankly, if pediatrics (and medicine in general) is just based on influencer culture, it's all doomed. I suppose though, maybe, just maybe, some knucklehead in pediatrics will connect with some yokkels and get their kids vaccinated... here's hoping.

And from my perspective, doing research in pediatrics is kinda a waste of time. At least if it is some requirement. If someone is truly interested in pediatrics AND research... sure! There's lots of questions to be asked. But that's not who pediatrics attracts. The people who like understanding the mechanism of biology and physiology just don't go into pediatrics. They like kids, which is fine,... but it's not really deeper than that. Frankly, to borrow a saying from a research colleague, "You can't teach curiosity".

In that regard, I think getting rid of the "scholarly activity" in fellowship training is a good thing. 99% of the time, its garbage in, garbage out. For the 1% who actually want to do it, resources should be invested in them and not distributed amongst the 99% who have no interest.

There's also of course the money issue... which I while I understand, I also blame internet culture on. People always want more, irrespective of whether what they have is sufficient. The internet culture feeds that greed and pediatrics doesn't lend itself to combating it... so match rates will always be lower and defined by the people who feel pediatrics is a calling, but not because of research. The people who like/love research also feel that's a calling and are also (usually) willing to forego better pay. But combine that with pediatrics... there just aren't that many who love pediatrics AND research OVER money. There's probably literally only a couple hundred or so of us in the nation that pursue that career. That's okay I guess. Sad, but it is what it is.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

There's also of course the money issue... which I while I understand, I also blame internet culture on. People always want more, irrespective of whether what they have is sufficient. The internet culture feeds that greed and pediatrics doesn't lend itself to combating it... so match rates will always be lower and defined by the people who feel pediatrics is a calling, but not because of research. The people who like/love research also feel that's a calling and are also (usually) willing to forego better pay. But combine that with pediatrics... there just aren't that many who love pediatrics AND research OVER money. There's probably literally only a couple hundred or so of us in the nation that pursue that career. That's okay I guess. Sad, but it is what it is.

Slightly related, but I think pediatrics also attracts people who are terrible at investing. I could offer opinions as to why, but irrespective, I have found it to be true, which inhertently, diminished lifetime net worth.

I remember telling a fellow years ago about investing and 401K matching. She was like "Um... I don't really bother with that." I was like:

 

[oldbearprofessor]

From a medical student perspective, the issue isn't "Do I care about research?", it's "does it matter for my residency application?". Focusing only on peds here, I'm doubtful it does except for a very very few programs and I'm not sure it's a game breaker anywhere. Med students interested in peds often do public policy, social justice type work rather that lab-based research. But, I'm not sure how much these issues matter to the vast majority of programs nowadays. I doubt they care much in pediatrics about research, especially lab-based.

This is vastly different than some things like derm/ortho/NS meaning also that students need to make some relatively early decisions here about focus.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

From a medical student perspective, the issue isn't "Do I care about research?", it's "does it matter for my residency application?". Focusing only on peds here, I'm doubtful it does except for a very very few programs and I'm not sure it's a game breaker anywhere. Med students interested in peds often do public policy, social justice type work rather that lab-based research. But, I'm not sure how much these issues matter to the vast majority of programs nowadays. I doubt they care much in pediatrics about research, especially lab-based.

This is vastly different than some things like derm/ortho/NS meaning also that students need to make some relatively early decisions here about focus.

Yeah, from a medical student perspective, the number of publications needed to go into pediatrics is exactly 0. Heck, most junior attendings in pediatrics have between 0-1 publications. So it definitely doesn't matter from an application standpoint. Frankly, I'm not sure much of anything on the application really matters anymore. Step 1 is pass/fail, so outside of failing, there is little to objectively discriminate between applications. Felonies are always bad though. Most applicants instead do "service", and volunteer work, and "research" as you said is often absent or something research-adjacent, e.g. surveys about X, some sort of quality improvement whatever, and then my favorites: education and well-being.

Anyway, the "research" pipeline for pediatrics is generally nonexistent, and it's not going to get better. It's probably a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, though, as the NIH doesn't really like funding studies about kids, and most people who go into pediatrics couldn't care less about research. In that sense, the outcome is inevitable.

Edit: Just as an aside, the "research" in ortho/NS/derm is pathetic. I remember meeting several MD/PhDs in those fields. Naturally, I was excited because I like science so I was like "Oh, what did you study for your PhD?", thinking it was going to be in epithelial-mesenchymal transformation or something. Ya know, some sexy, TGF-beta science sh-t. And everytime, they were always like "Umm, I got it in general science and bone wizardry"... Ha.

 

[BigRedBeta]

But combine that with pediatrics... there just aren't that many who love pediatrics AND research OVER money.

I feel like I'm being called out here! 😆🤣
You can only pick 2...most only pick 1.

I remember telling a fellow years ago about investing and 401K matching. She was like "Um... I don't really bother with that."

Being in private practice PICU has proven to be quite lucrative, but we run very lean on our staffing to maximize everyone's compensation. We had someone interview with us a few years ago who came in guns ablazing about our staffing model and how it needed to change because we were working so much. One of my partners responded with "well we do it that because we like money" and the interviewee responded with "oh I really don't care about that much"...the response to from my partner ended up being something along the lines of that GIF/"you aren't going to fit in here very well". Needless to say we went with a different candidate.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

I feel like I'm being called out here! 😆🤣
You can only pick 2...most only pick 1.




Being in private practice PICU has proven to be quite lucrative, but we run very lean on our staffing to maximize everyone's compensation. We had someone interview with us a few years ago who came in guns ablazing about our staffing model and how it needed to change because we were working so much. One of my partners responded with "well we do it that because we like money" and the interviewee responded with "oh I really don't care about that much"...the response to from my partner ended up being something along the lines of that GIF/"you aren't going to fit in here very well". Needless to say we went with a different candidate.

Sounds like they didn’t understand what private practice was about.

But academic jobs are mostly gone. I suspect you’ll get more applicants like that, not less.