Peds Ortho

[LuckyMD2b]

Hi everybody. I'm an MS3 and am 90% sure that I'm going to be applying in Ortho. Just wanted to get the 4-1-1 on pediatric ortho. I loved my peds rotation and I love ortho, so I'm considering doing an elective in a few months and I want to know if it will be worth it.

I've been speaking with a couple of residents and I hear that it's a great subspecialty, but that there are some pretty major minuses, including: it is less operative than adult ortho, and that you get paid the least of all other orthopedic surgeons, I heard starting less than 200K.

In your opinions is this true? Do peds ortho guys deal with tumors, scoliosis, and congenital stuff in addition to bread-and-butter ortho; or are they sub-sub-specialized? Are they pretty much limited to academic practices, or what?

Any info will be very helpful,
Thanx

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[ForensicsBound]

It is true that peds orthopods make less money than other orthopods. < 200 K is a reasonable estimate to start. Most peds guys do work at academic centers simply because children's hospitals are tertiary centers.

Peds guys would make even less money if they didn't do scoliosis surgery. Spines pay a lot and so this drives up their salaries considerably.

There's less operating in peds ortho than other areas because most pediatric fractures are treated in a cast. But there's more to peds ortho than fractures...there's a lot of variety in peds...as a pediatric orthopod, you deal with spine, tumors, fracture care, clubfoot, cerebral palsy, myelomeningocele, variety of hip disorders, etc. etc. You're basically a "generalist" for children's orthopedic problems. What do you mean by "bread and butter" ortho? No you don't treat adults when you're a pediatric orthopod obviously. But you do treat "bread and butter" pediatric problems.

Doing a peds ortho rotation will give you a good idea of what to expect. It's way too early for you to decide on a subspecialty at this point. All you need to know is that you want to do ortho.

Hi everybody. I'm an MS3 and am 90% sure that I'm going to be applying in Ortho. Just wanted to get the 4-1-1 on pediatric ortho. I loved my peds rotation and I love ortho, so I'm considering doing an elective in a few months and I want to know if it will be worth it.

I've been speaking with a couple of residents and I hear that it's a great subspecialty, but that there are some pretty major minuses, including: it is less operative than adult ortho, and that you get paid the least of all other orthopedic surgeons, I heard starting less than 200K.

In your opinions is this true? Do peds ortho guys deal with tumors, scoliosis, and congenital stuff in addition to bread-and-butter ortho; or are they sub-sub-specialized? Are they pretty much limited to academic practices, or what?

Any info will be very helpful,
Thanx

 

[bonedoctor]

I agree, it's a little early to be deciding on a subspeciality of a speciality. I did not make my decision on fellowship until my 3rd year of residency.

You need to like orthopaedics as a whole because that is what you will spend five years doing with only 6-9 months of peds. Decide on ortho then worry about that subspecialty once in residency. Keep an open mind.

Most peds orthopods do practice in tertiary centers which are inevitably academic arenas. With this said, there is a HUGE need for pediatric orthopods in private practice as well, but this usually entails a certain amount of general orthopaedics till you can build a large enough practice to go just peds.

The peds orthopods I am training under make $320,000 plus bonuses annually. This is published in the paper yearly because they are state employees and their salaries are public accessible. So you can make a great living in academics. Academics is also EASIER than private practice because you have residents doing most of the ground pounding. You just show up for clinics, operate, do a little (or a lot) of research, occasionally round on a patient or two, and see consults if needed.

good luck!

 

[bonedoctor]

I agree, it's a little early to be deciding on a subspeciality of a speciality. I did not make my decision on fellowship until my 3rd year of residency.

You need to like orthopaedics as a whole because that is what you will spend five years doing with only 6-9 months of peds. Decide on ortho then worry about that subspecialty once in residency. Keep an open mind.

Most peds orthopods do practice in tertiary centers which are inevitably academic arenas. With this said, there is a HUGE need for pediatric orthopods in private practice as well, but this usually entails a certain amount of general orthopaedics till you can build a large enough practice to go just peds.

The peds orthopods I am training under make $320,000 plus bonuses annually. This is published in the paper yearly because they are state employees. Their salaries are public accessible. So you can make a great living in academics. Academics is also EASIER than private practice because you have residents doing most of the ground pounding. You just show up for clinics, operate, do a little (or a lot) of research, occasionally round on a patient or two, and see consults if needed.

good luck!

 

[bonedoctor]

I agree, it's a little early to be deciding on a subspeciality of a speciality. I did not make my decision on fellowship until my 3rd year of residency.

You need to like orthopaedics as a whole because that is what you will spend five years doing with only 6-9 months of peds. Decide on ortho then worry about that subspecialty once in residency. Keep an open mind.

Most peds orthopods do practice in tertiary centers which are inevitably academic arenas. With this said, there is a HUGE need for pediatric orthopods in private practice as well, but this usually entails a certain amount of general orthopaedics till you can build a large enough practice to go just peds.

The peds orthopods I am training under make $320,000 plus bonuses annually. This is published in the paper yearly because they are state employees. Their salaries are public accessible. One of them doesn't even do spine (of course our scoily surgeon makes more). So you can make a great living in academics. Academics is also EASIER than private practice because you have residents doing most of the ground pounding. You just show up for clinics, operate, do a little (or a lot) of research, occasionally round on a patient or two, and see consults if needed.

good luck!

 

[sscooterguy]

I agree, it's a little early to be deciding on a subspeciality of a speciality. I did not make my decision on fellowship until my 3rd year of residency.

You need to like orthopaedics as a whole because that is what you will spend five years doing with only 6-9 months of peds. Decide on ortho then worry about that subspecialty once in residency. Keep an open mind.

Most peds orthopods do practice in tertiary centers which are inevitably academic arenas. With this said, there is a HUGE need for pediatric orthopods in private practice as well, but this usually entails a certain amount of general orthopaedics till you can build a large enough practice to go just peds.

The peds orthopods I am training under make $320,000 plus bonuses annually. This is published in the paper yearly because they are state employees. Their salaries are public accessible. One of them doesn't even do spine (of course our scoily surgeon makes more). So you can make a great living in academics. Academics is also EASIER than private practice because you have residents doing most of the ground pounding. You just show up for clinics, operate, do a little (or a lot) of research, occasionally round on a patient or two, and see consults if needed.

good luck!

Hey Bone Doc,
Are you saying that the ped orthopods you are working with are at acedemic centers? How do salaries of the other ortho specialties compare at your academic center? Plus, what region are you in (northeast, midwest, etc) if you don't mind me asking? Most of the other specialties make much less at academic centers than their private counterparts. I get along well with my attendings, but have yet to ask them how much they make.
No matter if I go into ortho or not, I think I wanna be in acedemics for the teaching, research, and most interesting cases. I mean, 300k for an academic spot in ortho peds, even if I have to work myself up as a senior attending...I don't even need that much money. Thanks for the input.

sscooterguy

 

[bonedoctor]

Hey Bone Doc,
Are you saying that the ped orthopods you are working with are at acedemic centers? How do salaries of the other ortho specialties compare at your academic center? Plus, what region are you in (northeast, midwest, etc) if you don't mind me asking? Most of the other specialties make much less at academic centers than their private counterparts. I get along well with my attendings, but have yet to ask them how much they make.
No matter if I go into ortho or not, I think I wanna be in acedemics for the teaching, research, and most interesting cases. I mean, 300k for an academic spot in ortho peds, even if I have to work myself up as a senior attending...I don't even need that much money. Thanks for the input.

sscooterguy

They are at an academic center (thus state employees.) My region is southeast. I'm sure that a private ped orthopod doing spine as well would double if not triple even $300 K, so private guys do make more money. However, they work harder. These are senior professors and starting salaries would be much less. If your attendings work at a state funded institute, you could look up their salaries.