Now now, although I have my ups and downs with the pedi GI folks, you might be getting an "incomplete" view of the field from the previous posts. Note that I didn't say "inaccurate" just, "incomplete".😛
In any case, unlike in adults, there aren't really "pedi GI" docs. The field is pediatric GI, nutrition and hepatology and trainees are involved in all of these. Now, as a career, what individuals do is highly variable. There is both academic and private practice in pedi GI and there are those who focus on one area and less on others. There are also those who are focused on specific disorders or processes (e.g. IBD, liver failure, obesity) and those who are not.
There are some things that pedi GI docs see that are common. These include obesity, functional abdominal pain 🙂scared🙂, constipation 🙂sleep🙂 and failure to thrive. But, they also get to care for eating disorders, liver disease, malnutrition secondary to cancer, CF, etc and the ever popular "my kid just swallowed a penny" disease.
There is a reasonable amount of both basic science (think microbiota, immunology, etc) and clinical research in the field but there are lots of pedi GI folks who do all clinical work.
The day to day existence is extremely variable based on where you are and how academic and specialized your practice is. Most pedi GI folks will see in-patients, both their own patients and consults. All will have outpatient clinics. Some only one or two a week, others much more common. Those who practice in settings with residents and med students will often do a lot of teaching both related to their field and often general in-patient wards.
On the whole, a good field and I believe there is still a shortage of pedi GI docs. It doesn't pay as well as the adult version, and has fewer procedures, but still has a balance of procedures and a lot of diverse disease to care for.
Functional abdominal pain and chronic constipation are, however, the field-killers for me.😉
because it's true!
