Peds or Med Peds??

[Corali]

I just completed sub-i's in both internal medicine and pediatrics and am really struggling to make the decision between peds and med/peds. I really love taking care of teenagers and young adults and am intrigued by the med/peds "niche" of treating teens with chronic medical conditions as they transition into adulthood. However, from talking to med/peds residents at my hospital, it seems that most of them end up picking one or the other post-residency, unless they go into primary care (which I am less interested in) and the kind of "niche" I am looking for is much more difficult to find in practice. I know that I would be happy doing categorical peds as well (and could specialize in adolescent med from there anyway if I wish) but would love to hear from others whether they think someone in my situation would benefit from doing med/peds instead!

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[TelemarketingEnigma]

I think your deciding factor should be if you also like older adults. As med peds we are well suited for adolescent medicine, BUT the vast majority of our adult patients tend to be 40+ and you’ll have to see a lot of them through training. Will that be worth it to you?

Peds gives you a great pathway to adolescent med/transitions care, the difference is that you eventually have to give your patients up to an adult provider (usually). Med peds gives you the the same path, some additional adult experience, and the option to continue following them as long as you want.

The niche you’re looking for definitely exists in practice, but I find that it tends to get concentrated at bigger academic pediatric centers with large populations of specific conditions.

 

[Smurfette]

If you aren't interested in primary care, what type of fellowships/chronic conditions are you interested in?