Transcript Why Choose A Career in Pediatrics?
Why Choose A Career in Pediatrics?
Kishore Vellody, MD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Children’s Hosp of Pittsburgh
Job Satisfaction
96% of graduating pediatric residents who are in the job market for a general pediatric job state that they would choose Pediatrics again if they had to do it all over. 2003 AAP Survey Data
Job Satisfaction
Pediatricians rated higher satisfaction than internists in job, career, and specialty satisfaction General pediatricians more satisfied than all other physicians regarding their relationship with patients and personal time More likely to recommend their specialty to students seeking advice Shugerman, et. al. 2001, Leigh et. al. 2002
Job Opportunities
80% of residents seeking a general practice position report obtaining their most desired position Workforce shortages in a variety of pediatric subspecialties mean more job opportunities for graduates
Job Flexibility
26% of pediatricians (as opposed to 14% of all other specialties) have worked part time at some point in their career Multiple types of jobs offered ranging from part-time to more demanding hours
Serving the Underserved
Estimated that 48% of health care markets do not have a pediatrician ~ 290,000 children live in markets without a pediatrician or family practitioner 51 million people (1/5 th ) in the US lives in a rural area and only 10% of
all
U.S. physicians live there.
Pediatrics Training
3 year training (203 programs avail.) Inpatient Outpatient clinic General and subspecialty exposure NICU, PICU ER
Combined Peds/Adult Residency Training
Pediatrics/Internal Medicine (4 yrs) Pediatrics/Derm (5 yrs) Pediatrics/ER (5 yrs) Pediatrics/Genetics (5 yrs) Pediatrics/PM&R (5 yrs) Pediatrics/Adult Psych/Peds Psych (5 yrs)
What are the options?
General Pediatrics Clinic Based Community Academic Hospital Based Community Academic
General Pediatrics - background
Focus on the physical, mental, social health of children from birth to 21 years.
Prevention, detection, and management of these issues Major advocates for children (i.e. health/safety policies, education)
General Pediatrics - Scope
Health supervision Anticipatory guidance Monitoring physical and psychosocial growth and development Diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic disorders Management of serious and life-threatening illnesses Referral of complex conditions Consultative partnerships Community based activities (i.e. sports, schools, etc)
Subspecialty Pediatrics
Most require 2-3 years of post-residency fellowships Some require training in another discipline before becoming more focused on pediatrics such as: surgery, pathology, radiology Pediatric neurology and psychiatry can be done with 2 years of general pediatric training followed by 2 years of fellowship
Subspecialty Pediatrics
Adolescent Medicine Allergy/Immunology Cardiology Clinical Genetics Critical Care Medicine Dermatology Developmental Emergency Medicine Endocrinology Gastroenterology Hematology/Oncology Infectious Disease Medical Toxicology Neonatology Nephrology Pulmonology Rheumatology Sports Medicine
Research
Those in subspecialties or in academic environments can choose between more research intensive goals or patient care/clinical goals or a combination of the two