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

Questions?