What does it really look like, to be a pediatrician?

[josh3salmon]

I'm in a gap year right out of high school, volunteering on The Africa Mercy (A hospital ship in Senegal). I've gotten dozens of shadowing hours with everything from physicians to physical therapists to nurses, but I realize that it's definitely different then it would be at home, because we don't really distinguish between kids and adults. I LOVE children, and I want to go into medicine, so I figured a pediatrician would be a solid career?

Could the pediatricians on this site please illustrate to me what it looks like to be a pediatrician in the states? Do you exclusively work with kiddos? Is there anything I should be doing differently at this point to bolster a Med School Application for pediatrics? THANKS!

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[mvenus929]

I'm in a gap year right out of high school, volunteering on The Africa Mercy (A hospital ship in Senegal). I've gotten dozens of shadowing hours with everything from physicians to physical therapists to nurses, but I realize that it's definitely different then it would be at home, because we don't really distinguish between kids and adults. I LOVE children, and I want to go into medicine, so I figured a pediatrician would be a solid career?

Could the pediatricians on this site please illustrate to me what it looks like to be a pediatrician in the states? Do you exclusively work with kiddos? Is there anything I should be doing differently at this point to bolster a Med School Application for pediatrics? THANKS!

Well, first off, you don't design your med school application for a specific specialty. You design it to be a doctor. Most people change their mind on what specialty they want to pursue once they've experienced other specialties. So while you might like kids, you might not want to take care of them when they are at their most vulnerable.

A pediatrician will mostly take care of children <18 years of age. There will be some college aged students as well, and depending on the practice, some may see some kids into their early 20s, but it's relatively rate to continue seeing a pediatrician beyond 21 years old or so. A general pediatrician will see kids for well visits and sick visits, and will also manage chronic medical conditions--the most common I took care of in residency were asthma and ADHD, but we also served as a medical homes for complex patients with subspecialty needs (diabetes, kidney disease, cerebral palsy, etc).

 

[Ozone2552]

I know you requested practicing pediatricians to comment, but would you mind a pediatric resident commenting? The answer above is pretty solid and gives a general idea of life as a pediatrician in the U.S. Day to day will be a little different for in-patient vs. out-patient. The pediatrician I was assigned to during my core rotation in med school saw patients up to the age of 21.

I would also agree that your mind could change; not saying that it WILL. And any field in medicine could be considered a "solid career." What is most important is that you, at the end of med school, select a specialty that is a good fit for you. My grandfather always says "do what you love, or love what you do."

 

[DeadCactus]

There are so many variations on what a pediatrician does, it's hard to answer your question in a meaningful way. Inpatient vs outpatient. Rural vs suburban vs inner city. Academic vs community. Small practice vs giant group. We're not even getting into subspecialities or being a totally different specialty that sub-specializes in pediatrics (pediatric surgeons, pediatric anesthesia, pediatric radiology etc) that many non-physicians would lump into their concept of a career in pediatrics.

The real question is do you want to be a physician? You can figure out what flavor of dealing with kids you want to pursue once you're in medical school and have the opportunity to rotate through different settings. There are plenty of ways to interact with kids without being a physician. There are plenty of ways to help people. There are plenty of ways to have a personally and financially rewarding career. Why do you want and need to be a physician instead of a nurse, PA, dentist, physical therapist, engineer, educator, respiratory therapist, child life specialist, etc? That's the question that matters right now.

 

[Freezer]

When I applied to med school, I was convinced I was going to go into internal medicine or maybe pathology. After my first clinical rotation in Pediatrics, I never looked back. Just echoing what was mentioned above, the only question you need to answer right now is "do I want to be a doctor?" Go into medical school with an open mind and pay close attention to the rotations you are excited to wake up and go to work for.