Why peds?

[nonny2]

For those who are already committed to pediatrics:

What made you pick peds? What makes a good (and happy) pediatrician in your opinion?

I know you have to love kids... but, honestly, does anyone not love kids? I know also you can't be too into making money. That is fine, we can live off of DH, I just want to do what I love! Besides these, what are some pros and cons? I am trying to decide if it is the mommy or the doctor in me that is drawn to peds. Right now, I can't decide between peds and EM.

Thanks!

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[NeverSayNever]

How about Peds EM?

 

[eag]

Along with what you said, I hate adult medicine.

 

[BigNavyPedsGuy]

There are a lot of people out there that are really uncomfortable around kids.

My takes:
1) Any specialty you do, whether it's surgery, internal medicine, ortho, etc, eventually it's going to have an assembly line feel seeing the same things over and over again. Kids are so unpredictable and fun that this is less of a factor.
2) Whatever specialty you choose, the higher the highs, the lower the lows. Look at IM if an old guy dies, too bad, but it was his time. What's a great save? Managing HTN and adding 4 years to a life. Look at trauma you save someone with your hands! OR someone dies while they are literally in your hands. Pediatrics is a job with a good number of highs and lows. It's great to save a kid's life, but it's TERRIBLE to watch a baby die. The highs definitely outweigh the lows though.

Kids get better, sometimes we help.

 

[BigRedBeta]

quite a few things for me too.

1) Have to echo bignavy - in peds, your impact can extend to the child having a normal life, even normal lifespan.
2) Peds is fun...great pediatricians turn play into a physical exam.
3) Variety...caring for a 2 year old is a lot different than caring for a 14 year old. Medicine? Not much difference in approach to caring for a 50 year old hypertensive and a 70 year old with hypertension.
4) Kids' problems aren't their fault...my cynicism gets in the way. Your woman with lung cancer who has an 80 pack year history? I can be compassionate, but in the end, hard to be truly sympathetic.

 

[CrazyPeds527]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=511161

Always good to do a search before starting a new thread...here is the "Why Peds" thread from about 6 months ago. Before the thread devolves into other subjects, the content is quite good.

Check it out!

 

[nonny2]

I did a search but didn't find anything, thanks for the tip!

I appreciate the input. I am just having such a hard time committing to anything! I am so scared of getting locked into a field and then hating it. Does everyone else "just know"? Maybe I am a committmentphobic.

 

[umass rower]

I appreciate the input. I am just having such a hard time committing to anything! I am so scared of getting locked into a field and then hating it. Does everyone else "just know"? Maybe I am a committmentphobic.

What year in medical school are you? If you're still in your pre-clinical years, it's OK not to know what you want to do, and being a commitment-phobe can actually help you to keep an open mind further on. If you're a third year, just pay attention to your required rotations, and see what specialty is the best "fit" for you. Among the major areas of medicine, there are very real and significant differences that can only really be appreciated by doing them. Many of my classmates still weren't completely decided at the end of their third year, and they all ended up in places they liked.

I hope you're not a fourth year, because it's a little late for deciding this application cycle.

 

[umass rower]

Also, I will say that I was something of an exception in that I actually did "just know", and kinda knew going into medical school. Working with kids has always just felt right in ways that other endeavors never did, and the medical setting didn't disappoint in that regard. I will say that there were aspects of other disciplines that I really enjoyed (strange as it sounds, I actually liked surgery as my second-favorite rotation of third year), but nothing can quite make me happy like working with little kids.

I would say that the largest contingent of people in my class who "just knew" ended up as surgeons. If you're the type of person who needs to cut to feel satisfied, then there's really only one field for you. For everything else, people weigh the positives and negatives for the specialty and settle on what works best for them.