Why Choose A Career in
Pediatrics?
Kishore Vellody, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
General Pediatrics - background
 Focus on the physical, mental, social health
of children from birth to 21 years.
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Prevention, detection, and management of
these issues
 Major advocates for children (i.e.
health/safety policies, education)
Why do we need Pediatricians?
 In other countries, pediatricians are
specialists with general practitioners seeing
most kids
 FP’s in U.S. are seeing less kids (2822% of
FP visits)
 Care of children is becoming increasingly
complex as we learn to diagnose and treat
their illnesses more effectively
 26.6% of kids have a chronic health condition
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AAP data, August 2013
What are the options?
 General Pediatrics
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Clinic Based
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Community
Academic
Hospital Based
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Community
Academic
General Pediatrics - Scope
 Health supervision
 Management of serious
 Anticipatory guidance
and life-threatening
illnesses
 Referral of complex
conditions
 Consultative
partnerships
 Community based
activities (i.e. sports,
schools, etc)
 Monitoring physical and
psychosocial growth
and development
 Diagnosis and
treatment of acute and
chronic disorders
Job Satisfaction
 94% of graduating pediatric residents state
that they would choose pediatrics again if
they had to do it all over.
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2008 AAP Survey Data
 Job satisfaction survey of 6,600 physicians in
42 specialties. Four of the “top 10” were
pediatric specialties: pediatric emergency
medicine (#1), general pediatrics (#4), medpeds (#5),“other” pediatric subspecialties
(#6), and neonatal-perinatal medicine (#7).
Job Satisfaction
 Pediatricians rated higher satisfaction than
internists in job, career, and specialty
satisfaction
 General pediatricians more satisfied than all
other physicians regarding their relationship
with patients and personal time
 More likely to recommend their specialty to
students seeking advice
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Shugerman, et. al. 2001, Leigh et. al. 2002
Job Opportunities
 96% of pediatric residents secure a job
before the conclusion of training.
 84% of pediatric residents who completed
training in the years 2006-2010 received an
offer for their most desired general practice
position.
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AAP Survey
Job Opportunities
 Workforce shortages general pediatrics and
subspecialties mean more job opportunities
for graduates
 In 2010, 33% of general pediatric residency
graduates planned on subspecializing
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Neonatal medicine
Pediatric hematology-oncology
Pediatric emergency medicine
Pediatric cardiology
Pediatric critical care.
6
Job Flexibility
 38% of graduating residents apply for a part
time position and 23% eventually accept one
 29% of pediatricians (as opposed to 14% of
all other specialties) have worked part time at
some point in their career
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8% of part time positions are males
 AAP August 2013
 Multiple types of jobs offered ranging from
part-time to more demanding hours
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Majority work in group practices
Serving the Underserved
 Estimated that 52% of health care markets do
not have a pediatrician
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Another 20% do not have a family practitioner
 ~ 650,000 children live in markets without a
pediatrician or family practitioner
 51 million people (1/5th) in the US lives in a
rural area and only 10% of all U.S. physicians
live there.
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93% of those physicians say they plan to
continue working in their practices long term
Pediatrics Training
 3 year training (201 programs avail.)
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Inpatient
Outpatient clinic
General and subspecialty exposure
NICU, PICU
ER
 8123 Pediatric Residents nationwide
 >90% of first year pediatric residency
positions fill each year
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AAP August 2013
Combined Peds/Adult Residency
Training
 Pediatrics/Internal Medicine (4 yrs)
 Pediatrics/Derm (5 yrs)
 Pediatrics/ER (5 yrs)
 Pediatrics/Genetics (5 yrs)
 Pediatrics/PM&R (5 yrs)
 Pediatrics/Adult Psych/Peds Psych (5 yrs)
Subspecialty Pediatrics
 Most require 2-3 years of post-residency
fellowships
 Some require training in another discipline
before becoming more focused on pediatrics
such as: surgery, pathology, radiology
 Pediatric neurology, rheumatology, and
psychiatry can be done with 2 years of
general pediatric training followed by 2-3
years of fellowship
Subspecialty Pediatrics
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Adolescent Medicine
Allergy/Immunology
Cardiology
Clinical Genetics
Critical Care Medicine
Dermatology
Developmental
Emergency Medicine
Endocrinology
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Gastroenterology
Hematology/Oncology
Infectious Disease
Medical Toxicology
Neonatology
Nephrology
Pulmonology
Rheumatology
Sports Medicine
Research
 Those in subspecialties or in academic
environments can choose between more
research intensive goals or patient
care/clinical goals or a combination of the two
SOURCES
http://www.aap.org/profed/career.htm
http://www.aap.org/profed/Peds101book.pdf
http://www.aap.org/profed/PEDS101charts.PDF
Questions?