3 answers
Krishna
Student
Crete, Nebraska
1
Question
Asked
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What does a day in a pediatric doctors life look like?
I want to be in the medical field. I have not decided if that look like being a doctor for me or a surgeon. I also love working with kids and I feel as if this is a career that I would love but, want to know more about. #hospital #healthcare #childcare
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3 answers
Deepak Pillai, MD, MBA
Physician Informaticist
1
Answer
Austin, Texas
Updated
Deepak’s Answer
Great question, and I'd like to echo Dr. Finley's comments and add a perspective of my own:
1) As mentioned, pediatricians have a variety of options available to them, and the "day in the life" depends on the type of setting you'd like to work in. That, of course, won't manifest itself to you until you are much further along in your medical training. That being said, pediatrics along with many other specialties, "has room for everyone" and one of the luxuries of medical practice is that you may be able to carve out a "day in the life" that works for you, be it the hours, types of cases you see, etc.
2) Strongly agree with the 2nd point that your driving force, to even enter medicine at all, let alone a chosen specialty, should be rooted in core values of the profession (any profession, not just medicine). Whatever career one chooses, there will be good days, bad days, and most days are ho-hum. The good days, or "highs", will likely only be a minority of the days, so the alignment of your core values with that of the profession will be what gets you through day to day.
3) Like you, before entering medical school, I wanted to be a pediatrician. But the world of medical education & science opened my eyes to a variety of specialties. I ended up doing an adult specialty and now work full-time in informatics. Both are a far cry from pediatrics. So it's awesome that you have ideas of what you want to do, and I'd encourage you to continue to explore that while also keeping your mind open to a world of possibilities.
Bottom line: While knowing the "day in the life" early is nice, I'd recommend focusing on core values, and the "day in the life" will become clearer as you develop alignment with your chosen career (and there are always opportunities to "re-align" should your day-to-day needs change :) )
1) As mentioned, pediatricians have a variety of options available to them, and the "day in the life" depends on the type of setting you'd like to work in. That, of course, won't manifest itself to you until you are much further along in your medical training. That being said, pediatrics along with many other specialties, "has room for everyone" and one of the luxuries of medical practice is that you may be able to carve out a "day in the life" that works for you, be it the hours, types of cases you see, etc.
2) Strongly agree with the 2nd point that your driving force, to even enter medicine at all, let alone a chosen specialty, should be rooted in core values of the profession (any profession, not just medicine). Whatever career one chooses, there will be good days, bad days, and most days are ho-hum. The good days, or "highs", will likely only be a minority of the days, so the alignment of your core values with that of the profession will be what gets you through day to day.
3) Like you, before entering medical school, I wanted to be a pediatrician. But the world of medical education & science opened my eyes to a variety of specialties. I ended up doing an adult specialty and now work full-time in informatics. Both are a far cry from pediatrics. So it's awesome that you have ideas of what you want to do, and I'd encourage you to continue to explore that while also keeping your mind open to a world of possibilities.
Bottom line: While knowing the "day in the life" early is nice, I'd recommend focusing on core values, and the "day in the life" will become clearer as you develop alignment with your chosen career (and there are always opportunities to "re-align" should your day-to-day needs change :) )
Karl B. Finley, MD, MBA
Physician
9
Answers
Dallas, Texas
Updated
Karl B.’s Answer
Just adding on to the answer below....as a pediatrician you are a primary care physician for those under the age of 18. The one thing about a being a physician is that one day may not look like the next by design or just because of the types of problems you might in counter. For example - if you work as a pediatrician in a office your day might be 8 -5 with a half day for just paperwork. You may also have days that you go round at the hospital if you so choose. You may also work at an urgent care which may be longer hours (10- 10) but you also may do that 3-4 days/week. As an ICU pediatrician, you may be on call more and work more hours in a day and lot more weekends. As a pediatric surgeon, you work and schedule your surgeries which may very in the amount time required ( weekends and nights may be included).
If I can finish on one piece of advice - these are good questions but it boils down to whether you want to do this or not. I have worked all kind of hours in my career, but I never once thought to myself while taking care of a sick person that I need to go home. Your drive to help people will and should prevail. So make sure you want to do this and everything else will take care of itself.
If I can finish on one piece of advice - these are good questions but it boils down to whether you want to do this or not. I have worked all kind of hours in my career, but I never once thought to myself while taking care of a sick person that I need to go home. Your drive to help people will and should prevail. So make sure you want to do this and everything else will take care of itself.
David George
Psychic Detective at David George Psychic/Medium
115
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
David’s Answer
Ear, nose, throat and listen to lungs. All day long. Of course you will have to deal with other issues, but those three are the primary. Become a medical assistant. Then you can work in a pediatric office, or general surgery. I gave you a show to watch below. But if you are under 18, ask your parents first. And have them watch it with you.
Watch old episodes of: Trauma Life in the ER. Some of those patients are pediatric.
David recommends the following next steps: