Why no love for Peds?

[emailcone]

When I tell preceptors and random doctors that I come across that I am thinking about Peds I have received many negative comments.

Comments include: "You will starve." "You are going to have to drive your Toyota into the ground." And my favorite: "if you need to borrow some money in the future you can always look me up."

For those of you who went into Peds how do you feel about this?
Do pediatricians really struggle financially?
Do you have to really love it so much that you don't care about "lifestyle" and money?
Is it a specially that you have to love over all other types?

Thanks in advance,
A third Year med student looking into Peds

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[oldbearprofessor]

"You are going to have to drive your Toyota into the ground."

Subaru, not Toyota. We're hippies . Mine is only 12 years old, hoping that it gets bar mitzvahed and then can vote.

In med school, everyone is a critic of every field but their own. Take it all with a grain of salt and go ask a bunch of pediatric folks, in person, if they are satisfied with their job and their income. Make sure to include some subspecialists along with general pedis.

 

[Stitch]

I love my Subaru too!

I've never regretted my decision to go into peds. It's a great field with great people. Pediatricians don't make as much as some fields, but we have (as a whole) very good job satisfaction, job security, and I've never worried about 'starving.' We do just fine.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Does this mean I'll have to relinquish my 11 year old Toyota when I start residency?

 

[mourinho]

Unless they are driving a Bugatti, I don't think they can brag too much either...

 

[g12321]

Subaru, not Toyota. We're hippies . Mine is only 12 years old, hoping that it gets bar mitzvahed and then can vote.

In med school, everyone is a critic of every field but their own. Take it all with a grain of salt and go ask a bunch of pediatric folks, in person, if they are satisfied with their job and their income. Make sure to include some subspecialists along with general pedis.

does that increase the general revenue a lot?

 

[Perrotfish]

Subaru, not Toyota. We're hippies . Mine is only 12 years old, hoping that it gets bar mitzvahed and then can vote.

In med school, everyone is a critic of every field but their own. Take it all with a grain of salt and go ask a bunch of pediatric folks, in person, if they are satisfied with their job and their income. Make sure to include some subspecialists along with general pedis.

That's wasn't my experience. I went through several phases of what I wanted to do, and they got very different reactions. I definitely felt like I got negative reactions to Peds: some people seemed to immediately assume I was a poor student, and others tried to rescue me from my blighted future finances. Earlier on when I went through phases where I was interested in EM, or Psych, I got much better reactions.

Something else that was interesting: I didn't get a bad reaction at all if I said 'neonatology' instead of 'Pediatrics'. The wierdest thing is that I even got a better reaction from other Pediatricians who weren't Neonatologists. I haven't ruled out the NICU or anything, but I spent 4th year telling everyone that was my one and only goal just so they would take me seriously as a student.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

does that increase the general revenue a lot?

On the whole, no. If speaking of a few specialty fields, yes. My point was that being a "pediatrician" may mean general pediatrician to some, but close to half of pediatric residents will do a fellowship, so in order to really understand how pediatricians feel about their job, they should talk to folks in both general pediatrics and specialty fields.

 

[Packman2003]

I just saw a pediatrician walk out of his practice and get into his new BMW 5 series with the license plate "IFIXKIDS"...it shares a parking lot with an awesome beer store near me...that was like 5 days ago. Just one data point, but add it to the rest.

 

[Smokemont]

I just saw a pediatrician walk out of his practice and get into his new BMW 5 series with the license plate "IFIXKIDS"...it shares a parking lot with an awesome beer store near me...that was like 5 days ago. Just one data point, but add it to the rest.

What's your point? What's the low end for gen peds? 120k? That's more than enough to afford a nice car. Anyone that says you'll starve on a pediatrician salary is delusional.

Do what you love and nothing else. If you can't stand other people's reaction when you tell them your interested in peds then say something else.

 

[Cuthbert]

What's your point? What's the low end for gen peds? 120k? That's more than enough to afford a nice car. Anyone that says you'll starve on a pediatrician salary is delusional.

Do what you love and nothing else. If you can't stand other people's reaction when you tell them your interested in peds then say something else.

This is true. The low end may be around 120,000. The 90th percentile would be over 200,000. I know many pediatricians making much more than this. It depends on where you practice and how hard you want to work.

Physicians in other specialties (many of them at least) like to put down other specialties to make themselves feel good about their choice. Heck, I do the same thing. I often say that you could not pay me enough to touch old people - they are gross and caused all of their own disease!

Don't worry about what others think. Do what you love. I know physicians making more than me that are pissed at the world due to the type of patients they see. That doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[jonb12997]

I love my 9 year old honda civic! It got through end of college, med school, residency and starting into attending....

I would seriously talk with pediatricians about it, don't trust what other specialities have to say. They're just jealous they don't get to work with kids and newborn babies! I don't know many pediatricians who wouldn't love to sit down with you and talk if you tell them that you want to go into peds... Howeer, It all depends on where you want to live - supply and demand and how hard you'll work.

I heard it said one time, when looking at jobs as an attending, there's location, pay, and job description (i.e. hours, call, work environment, type of work).... you can pick two of the three to be choosy about. not sure how true this is, but something to think about.