Who's a better pediatrician: FP or Peds?

[lisamed07]

I've been struggling with my future career choice and have posed this question to FP docs and Peds alike: If you compare an FP and a Pediatrician who have been in practice for 10-15 years, can you tell a difference in their ability to diagnose and manage bread-n-butter cases and cases that may not be so straight forward? I am considering FP vs. Peds, and oftentimes when I speak to Pediatricians they smirk at the few months of Peds training that FPs do in residency and one doc told me that Peds docs are always one step ahead of FPs b/c it's easier for them to keep up with clinical updates. The FP, on the other hand, has to try and keep up with clinical updates in Peds, IM, OB, etc. What I'm basically asking is...are FPs good pediatricians? I'm worried that the lack of Peds training in FP will lead me to miss various diagnoses... And the misperception that FP is the "easy" residency/career choice is always hard to avoid when you speak to specialists...

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[deleted87716]

If you compare an FP and a Pediatrician who have been in practice for 10-15 years, can you tell a difference in their ability to diagnose and manage bread-n-butter cases and cases that may not be so straight forward?

You can't paint everybody with the same brush. I've had quite a few patients who had been misdiagnosed or mismanaged by their pediatricians transfer care to me (well, their parents transferred their childrens' care to me.) IMO, it's more a question of the individual doctor(s) than their specialty choice.

 

[shemozart]

unfortunately, there is a wide variety of peds experience in different FP residencies. some really have very little training, and others have proportionately a LOT of training (maybe too many subspecialties for a generalist). everyone is different - some FPs might not keep up with it if they don't see many kids, and others might be on top of every clinical update more so than some pediatricians because they love kids and want more of them proportionately in their practice. i would think that the more kids in your practice, the more you would keep up with it. to start with, finding a residency program with good strong peds rotations (both inpatient and outpatient) as well as lots of peds elective time would be important. make sure there is a high volume of patients, too!

sorry for the rambling....just my thoughts.... good luck with your decision and keep asking questions....we love these on family medicine page.....and as for your ACTUAL question....totally depends on the doc. I think that after 10-15 years of practice, comparing an FP doc who loves kids and keeps them in his/her practice and was trained well to a well-trained peds doc - comparing bread and butter cases and how they stack up with missing diagnoses - i think they would be about the same. my personal opinion from what i've seen during my residency and med school. but i'm no expert.

 

[Non-Trad DO]

I agree that it depends on the Doc but as far as experience with the zebras seen the pediatritian has to win hands down. Not that there are not FP's that are good at peds but they are, like stated in this thread, good with the "Bread and Butter" of peds. I guess what I'm trying to say indirectly is, if you don't want to see really sick kids don't do pediatrics. This is basically what I got out of my med school rotations in both areas.

 

[lowbudget]

Pediatricians. But who's the better family doctor? Family physicians.

Heh. Of course, you're going to get a smirk. Medicine is all about who is smarter than who, who can do a procedure better than who. It's true that if Pedi is all you do every day, you'll be pretty good at it. As for clinical and scientific updates, it's usually the pediatricians at the AAP who put out guidelines and conduct trials, etc. So pediatricians will usually be the first to hear something through their Academy journals or CME. Sometimes, the AAFP will participate in putting out guidelines as it pertains to Primary Care of kids. Other times, you can read the POEMs in AFP and there will be stuff on kids too.

Bottom line is, and this is true for almost everything, no one has a monopoly on knowledge. So you can read all you want and be just as informed as the next person. The difference between doctors then is going to be from experience. The more you see, and read, and come back and see, the more you'll learn. Sure, it's nice to have someone teach you because that's the fastest way of learning. But everyone knows that learning does not stop after residency. Even pediatricians have to work hard to stay on top of their own field. And general pediatricians need to keep up with their subspecialists too. How would that be any different for family docs with special interest in children?

Personally, I'm not worried about it. I just keep doing what I'm doing, which is work hard, see patients, and learn from mistakes. If it's a big deal to you, choose Pedi over FP.

 

[Newdoc2002]

It really does depend on the person and their practice. Some of you are answering out of ignorance, but at least you claim so. Group to Group then you can say the peds are better at peds but I practice with a FM doc who runs circles around a lot peds I have been involved with (and it is a lot).

So the question while honest, does not have real merit or a concrete answer.

 

[lateness]

I've been struggling with my future career choice and have posed this question to FP docs and Peds alike: If you compare an FP and a Pediatrician who have been in practice for 10-15 years, can you tell a difference in their ability to diagnose and manage bread-n-butter cases and cases that may not be so straight forward? I am considering FP vs. Peds, and oftentimes when I speak to Pediatricians they smirk at the few months of Peds training that FPs do in residency and one doc told me that Peds docs are always one step ahead of FPs b/c it's easier for them to keep up with clinical updates. The FP, on the other hand, has to try and keep up with clinical updates in Peds, IM, OB, etc. What I'm basically asking is...are FPs good pediatricians? I'm worried that the lack of Peds training in FP will lead me to miss various diagnoses... And the misperception that FP is the "easy" residency/career choice is always hard to avoid when you speak to specialists...

i think what is important is do You want to see other patients in your practice than just kids, then do FM.. if its not that important and you really love mostly kids, than do peds..
gl.

 

[LADoc00]

I would say pathologists make the best pediatricians...was that an option?