Career of Pediatrician

From LoveToKnow Jobs

The career of pediatricians can be exhausting and rewarding. All you have to do is be willing to work hard, learn constantly, and love kids. You can practice general medicine or specialize within pediatrics.

Becoming a pediatrician takes lots of planning and hard work, but it can be a very rewarding job.

Career of Pediatrician: The Basics

What exactly do pediatricians do? They're "kid doctors," right? Well, yes, but that idea doesn't adequately sum up the extensive duties of a pediatrician. A good pediatrician takes it upon him or herself to offer mental, emotional, and physical support for children from the day they're born until they've put adolescence behind them.

Just as adult doctors can do, pediatricians can also choose a specialty. Love children but have a fascination with asthma? You can work with both areas simultaneously.

A Day in the Life

You probably already have a good idea of what a pediatrician's normal workday is like. They see their young patients and attempt to come up with diagnoses based on exam results. Treatment options are discussed with the parents or guardians of the child after that. Once treatment is set into motion, the pediatrician keeps track of the progress.

It's hard to pinpoint a "day in the life" when it comes to the career of pediatricians. Why? It varies. Sometimes they make rounds at the hospital, checking up on current sick patients or newborns. Other days, they go to the office and see children there. Between sick kids, pediatricians have to counsel the parents on the best treatment options.

Getting Set

Becoming a pediatrician takes years of special training and quite a bit of planning. If four years as an undergraduate, four years in medical school, and three or more years of residency doesn't send you screaming, that's a step in the right direction.

With that number of years in school comes quite a bit of debt. You may end up with $100,000 that you owe. Is that still okay with you? Great! You're prepared to spend a portion of your expected future salary to pay it back, which honestly isn't a big deal as long as you follow through on your dream to become a pediatrician and collect the hefty salary.

Another deterrent is the number of hours you may have to work while you're in your internship or residency. Think working 50-80 hours in a week sounds exhausting? How about 36-hour shifts, accumulating up to 100 hours in a week?

Deciding If It's for You

Frankly, as with almost any type of doctor, the career requires pediatricians to, at some level, be married to their jobs. If you want a 40-hour work week where you clock in and out, then give work no further thought for the day, it's not for you. However, if you can roll with the punches of sort of an unpredictable schedule and long hours, you might be pediatrician material. It goes without saying that you need to like kids—whether you prefer babies and toddlers or older kids and adolescents. Other things you need:

A hunger for knowledge in the field. Once all the schooling is behind you, you still have to absorb knowledge every day.
As mentioned above, you need a love of kids to enjoy the career of pediatricians.
You also need the ability to enjoy a relatively unpredictable workday. You'll be in the office, at the hospital, treating sick kids, counseling parents…in other words, it's more than data entry.

If you weren't turned off by the number of years of school and the amount of debt you could rack up if you decide to pursue a career as a pediatrician, shadow a pediatrician one day to further make up your mind. There would be almost nothing worse career-wise than deciding to pursue such a draining (emotionally, physically, mentally, and financially) career path only to be miserable or drop out before you're done—just because you didn't know what to expect.

Salary Information and Perks

According to Salary.com, the range of salaries for pediatricians is about $112,000 to $195,000. With bonuses, that increases to about $114,000 to $202,000.

If that's not enough to make the career look appetizing here are some of the other perks:

More schooling means more vacation time as you put off entering the workforce.
If you love kids and you love feeling like you're making a difference in their lives, it won't feel like going to work once you do enter the workforce. Your job satisfaction rating will be excellent.
The salary.
You can work alone or with a group of doctors.
Later on, you can work part-time if you choose to do so..

Retrieved from "http://jobs.lovetoknow.com/Career_of_Pediatrician"