HEALTH OCCUPATION OF THE MONTH
Pediatrician
by Felicia Marzec
January 12, 2007
Pediatricians provide care from birth to early adulthood. They are
concerned with the health of infants, children, and teenagers. Pediatricians
specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of ailments specific to
young and track their patients' growth to adulthood. They work with different
healthcare workers, such as nurses and other physicians, to assess and treat
children with various ailments, such as muscular dystrophy. Most of
pediatricians' work involves treating day-to-day illnesses that are common to
children such as minor injuries, infectious diseases, and immunizations. Some
specialize in serious medical conditions and pediatric surgery, treating
auto-immune disorders or serious chronic ailments.
Pediatricians can either work in a small private office or clinics or they can
work in the hospitals. They work long, irregular hours. Almost one-third of
pediatricians worked sixty hours or more a week in 2004. Pediatricians must
travel frequently between office and hospital to care for their patients. Those who
are on call deal with many patients' concerns over the phone and may make
emergency visits to hospitals or nursing homes.
Median yearly earnings of general pediatricians were $135,400 in 2004. The
middle fifty-percent earned between $100,700 and $145,600+. The lowest ten-
percent earned less than $70,500 and the highest ten-percent earned mote than
$145,600+. Earnings vary according to number of years practice, geographic
region, hours worked, and skill, personality, and professional reputation. Self-
employed pediatricians must provide for his or her own health insurance and
retirement.
Formal education and training requirements for pediatricians are among
the most demanding of any occupation. They have to have four years of
undergraduate school, four years of medical school, and three to eight years of
internship and residency. A few medical schools offer a combined undergraduate
and medical school programs that last six rather than thee customary eight
years. Premedical students must complete undergraduate work in physics,
biology, mathematics, English, and inorganic and organic chemistry. Students
also take courses in humanities and the social sciences. The minimum
educational requirement for entry into a medical school is three years of college.
There are 146 medical schools in the US. Students spend most of the first two
years in laboratories and classrooms, taking courses such as anatomy,
biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, psychology, microbiology, pathology,
medical ethics, and laws governing medicine. They also learn to take medical
histories, examine patients, and diagnose illnesses. During their last two years,
they work with patients under the supervision of experienced pediatricians in
hospitals and clinics. Learning about acute, chronic, preventive, and rehabilitative
cares. Following medical school almost all M.D.s enter a residency.
To be licensed, pediatricians must graduate from an accredited medical
school, pass a licensing examination, and complete one to seven years of
graduate medical education. Although pediatricians licensed in one state usually
can get a license to practice in another without further examination.
Everyone looks up to you and you get a feeling of a ccomplishment. You
do something different every day. You are busy everyday and never have to sit
around. You get to make decisions on your own. You always receive recognition
for the work you do. Pediatrics involves working with ideas and requires an
extensive amount of thinking. You have to work with infants that can't tell you
what is wrong with them and have to figure it out yourself with tests. You have to
deal with children that don't corporate with you easily. You have to deal with
screaming children and the parents.
