"Well child" visits are BS

[MacGyver]

Since starting my peds rotation, its become abundantly clear to me why peds makes such low $$$$

Well child visits are a joke. You dont need someone with 4 years of med school and a 3 year residency to do well child visits.

Well child visits make up 50% of all peds visits. I say cut the # of peds residency slots, and hand over well child visits to somebody else. Let the NPs/PAs waste their time with this.

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[TexasRose]

Since starting my peds rotation, its become abundantly clear to me why peds makes such low $$$$

Well child visits are a joke. You dont need someone with 4 years of med school and a 3 year residency to do well child visits.

Well child visits make up 50% of all peds visits. I say cut the # of peds residency slots, and hand over well child visits to somebody else. Let the NPs/PAs waste their time with this.

Umm, okay.

 

[CatsandCradles]

Since starting my peds rotation, its become abundantly clear to me why peds makes such low $$$$

Well child visits are a joke. You dont need someone with 4 years of med school and a 3 year residency to do well child visits.

Well child visits make up 50% of all peds visits. I say cut the # of peds residency slots, and hand over well child visits to somebody else. Let the NPs/PAs waste their time with this.

MacGyver, why is every post I read by you always anti "X". Where x stands for some profession or group of people?

If you don't like your pediatric rotation, then why did you have to come here and insult the resident section of SDN? Not only is this disrespectful to PAs and NPs, but it is a slap in the face for those of us interested in this field.

My advice to you is to go and complain to the attendings and residents word for word what you just said here. Perhaps they are in a better position to deal with your issues.

 

[Bernardo_11]

They're fun!! Sure most of the children are normal and healthy. But occasionally I find those children with speech delay, and later find out it's due to autism or hearing loss. A failure to thrive, due to parents who need a little more education about nutrition. Then there are those children with special healthcare needs whose well child checks consist of making sure each "system" is a go.

The continuity is amazing. You see this infant whom you first saw as a 3 day old right out of the hospital grow through their first few years of life. It's the reason why a lot of us go into peds. So it's not for you, MacGuyver... what can I say? Not everyone goes into medicine strictly for financial gain and/or intellectual stimulation. I can empathize that they're as boring as hell to observe as a third yr med student.... shoot, even as a resident I thought they were boring and tedious. But when I finally went out to practice and started considering these patients as "my own" well, these "BS" visits became a lot more fun.

Sick kids can be draining if that's all you see. So it's fun to see and play with a few well kids now and then to maintain your sanity. It's not a surgeon's salary I was earning, but hey, I still got paid a pretty penny to enjoy what I was doing.

Nardo,
DB Peds Fellow

 

[ekydrd]

MacGyver, I suggest you begin preparing your radiology application now. Unless you abhore dark rooms, big scary machines, or computer screens, or maybe you should think about palliative care so you don't have to worry about saving your patients.

Continuity in patient care, especially children, is very important in health care. Not only can a potentially treatable issue be identified much earlier, acute changes in health can also be identified that might otherwise be missed, such as that insidious pituitary tumor that is causing delayed growth that only shows up as a drop off from the childs previous growth curve, or subtle evidence of developmental delay. So I say, let me get paid what ever I can as long as I can make a difference in some lives. I'm not in it for the money honey, just the personal satisfaction.

 

[mysophobe]

This is why I love pediatricians. You guys (and girls) rock.

 

[Homunculus]

Since starting my peds rotation, its become abundantly clear to me why peds makes such low $$$$.

people don't go into peds for the money. some subspecialists make decent money, and well run private practice groups can do well. to be honest, i like it this way. people do peds for the right reasons. it keeps the @ssholes and egomaniacs away (for the most part).

Well child visits are a joke. You dont need someone with 4 years of med school and a 3 year residency to do well child visits.

Well child visits make up 50% of all peds visits. I say cut the # of peds residency slots, and hand over well child visits to somebody else. Let the NPs/PAs waste their time with this.

normal healthy adults make up 50% of anesthesia cases. over 50% of lap-choles or lap-appys could be done by a trained chimp. 50% of "r/o fx" radiographs are normal. 50% of prostate biopsies are benign.

critical patients and kids are difficult anesthesia cases. anatomical variations can make lap choles a mess. a subtle cervical fracture can kill. that one slide with cancer on it can easily be missed.

we make our money catching and managing that "other" 50%. every field has its "well child exams", they're just called something else.

and i'd rather see a well child than do any of the other routine stuff.

to each his own.

--your friendly neighborhood earnin' his $$$ caveman

 

[Portier]

I just wanted to write something positive about Peds since I'm feeling so positive about it. I figure this is as good a place as any. I'm starting 4th year at DMU...not a resident but....

I like Pediatric Patients.

I like them so much...so very damned much.

I'm doing my 2 month core FP clinic this month. There's no OB/GYN or Inpatient. All we do is clinic and turfing. During the 8-5 M-F days we see few children. Mostly it's geriatrics. I started getting blue about the 2nd week.

Until.....

Until I "got" to do "call" with my doc. Their call is working from 8-8 on a weekday or 9-2 on a weekend. Routinely call is comprised of many sick child visits. Some, of course, are because parents get anxious and grandma isn't around to call anymore.

I had a much "better" time working a longer day and seeing all these sick and semi-sick children than I did working 8-5 and seeing relatively sick adults.

One child I saw that night had started wetting again. After asking the pertient history questions I did the stem to sterm physical exam (with an eye for abuse when I checked her girl parts). Everything was benign. I was thankful it was benign. A non-sick child is really much better than an abused child.

I even got a little girl hug....

I don't know if being in "love" with taking care of children is a good reason to seek the residency, but it's all I can think to do. The intangibles are what makes the biggest difference to me in this journey.

 

[ekydrd]

... The intangibles are what makes the biggest difference to me in this journey.

Here, here!!!