Pediatric neurology vs adult neurology?

[deleted1139416]

So I’ve heard from quite a few clinicians that there isn’t a hard rule or age cutoff for a patient to see a pediatric neurologist vs. general neurologist. Sometimes pediatric neurologists will see older patients well into their 20s and sometimes general neurologists (especially those sub-specializing) will see patients as young as 10. I’m just starting my third year of medical school and still deciding between general vs. pediatric neurology. Anyone have any advice or comments about this topic? I like the idea of seeing patients of all ages.

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[DadIsFat]

Also interested in hearing answers on what made people decide on peds vs adult neuro. I am also a third year, interested in both fields. I have heard a couple of the pediatric neurologists at my school they consider themselves pediatricians first, so that may be part of the draw- just a general love of working with pediatric patients. Who knows? I have my neuro rotation coming up in a couple of months and my peds neuro elective later in the year- looking forward to both.
Not to derail the thread, but if anyone has suggestions on what to read prior to my peds neuro rotation, I would appreciate any tips. Blueprints Neuro has a few pages but not much.

 

[Aldertonghen]

Probably not helpful, but in autoimmune neurology (a subspecialty of adult neuro) there were a lot of kids with things like ADEM. So adult neuro do take care of them

 

[deleted1139416]

Probably not helpful, but in autoimmune neurology (a subspecialty of adult neuro) there were a lot of kids with things like ADEM. So adult neuro do take care of them

That’s actually very helpful

 

[sharkbaitwhohaha]

Pediatric and adult neurology are very, very different.

ped neuros,are much more heavy on pediatrics than adult neuro are for adult medicine (if that makes sense).

They are different because of the incredibly different disease states.
Pediatric: developmental disorders, intractable epilepsy, neurodisease with prominent neuropsychiatric disorders, rare congential myopathies.
Adult: stroke, seizure, neuropathy, neurodegenerative disorders (ALS, PD, Essential tremor, AD, DLB).

Even though it's neurology, it's a far different type of neurology.

 

[deathmerchant]

So I’ve heard from quite a few clinicians that there isn’t a hard rule or age cutoff for a patient to see a pediatric neurologist vs. general neurologist. Sometimes pediatric neurologists will see older patients well into their 20s and sometimes general neurologists (especially those sub-specializing) will see patients as young as 10. I’m just starting my third year of medical school and still deciding between general vs. pediatric neurology. Anyone have any advice or comments about this topic? I like the idea of seeing patients of all ages.

That is true for private practice or small group practice in a small/mid size town. I see teenagers in my adult practice. One adult neurologist in my town sees patients of all ages (but he is super old).

In my biased opinion Adult neuro has much more diversity in disease pathologies and ability to do procedures (I believe in neurology we have the option to do over 20 different fellowships); higher salaries, and way more job opportunities and job settings. Also you dont have to deal with kids AND their parents.

Pediatric neurology would make sense for someone who Loves pediatric population. Also, 80% of peds neuro is epilepsy- and peds epilepsy is way more interesting and rewarding than adult epilepsy- so if you are into that go into peds neuro. Obviously there are genetic disorders/neurobehavioral disorders that would be better in peds. You will be mostly limited to academics and/or large hospitals/groups in big cities.

 

[xenotype]

It cannot be emphasized enough how much of a different animal peds neuro is vs adults. I felt like an alien on my peds rotation, as I knew very little about congenital diseases/metabolic disorders but the peds neuro guys were completely clueless on neuromuscular problems and deer in the headlights for stroke- only overlap being that we spoke the same language. Epilepsy is strong overlap between both. In peds a lot of stuff is simply horrible and not treatable or gets better on its own. In adult world you need to do stuff to fix things, sometimes quickly. I could not do peds neuro- I don't like kids or their parents, and I don't like the diseases peds neuro treats (or doesn't, because they can't or no treatment is needed).

 

[Neurogeneral]

Peds neuro in the community setting means treating LOTS of ADHD. So lots of prescribing of stimulants…. If you wanted, you could quickly build a loyal patient base just with this patient population. Many of these patients then become adults with ADHD and can continue seeing you.

Also, given the shortage of child psychiatrists, you will also be treating lots of psychiatric ailments in kids. Many of these children will have developmental delay, ASD, MR, CP, etc.

And of course, you will be taking care of epilepsy and headache peds patients.

 

[babybrains]

So I’ve heard from quite a few clinicians that there isn’t a hard rule or age cutoff for a patient to see a pediatric neurologist vs. general neurologist. Sometimes pediatric neurologists will see older patients well into their 20s and sometimes general neurologists (especially those sub-specializing) will see patients as young as 10. I’m just starting my third year of medical school and still deciding between general vs. pediatric neurology. Anyone have any advice or comments about this topic? I like the idea of seeing patients of all ages.

At my children's hospital, there's a cut-off of age 21 for insurance coverage. I was in a similar boat - I was interested in neurology in all ages, from babies to adults, and ultimately chose child neuro because I didn't want to give up working with babies and I wasn't very interested in stroke. But there's definitely overlap in terms of fellowships for sub-specializing after, which can help with expanding age ranges. Also, in rural areas, adult neurologists often see the peds patients because there just aren't as many child neurologists.

Also interested in hearing answers on what made people decide on peds vs adult neuro. I am also a third year, interested in both fields. I have heard a couple of the pediatric neurologists at my school they consider themselves pediatricians first, so that may be part of the draw- just a general love of working with pediatric patients. Who knows? I have my neuro rotation coming up in a couple of months and my peds neuro elective later in the year- looking forward to both.
Not to derail the thread, but if anyone has suggestions on what to read prior to my peds neuro rotation, I would appreciate any tips. Blueprints Neuro has a few pages but not much.

So there are two schools of thought with child neuro - there are those who consider themselves pediatricians who happen to specialize in neurology, and those who consider themselves neurologists who happen to work with children. I'm very much the latter - I'm not a pediatrician and have 0 interest in general pediatrics - but I have colleagues who feel differently. This difference can even be seen in residency programs - there are some that are under the peds umbrella and some that are under the neuro umbrella.