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What is the most challenging aspect of being a pediatrician?

Particularly in places where pediatrics is considered a specialty (e.g. in Australia), not primary care (e.g. in the U.S.).

#pediatrics #medicine #medicine #doctor #healthcare #hospital-and-healthcare #med-school #pediatric

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Estelle’s Answer

I am very close to a doctor who moved from being a pediatrician to being an anesthesiologist. She loves both fields, but some of the things that pushed her away from Pediatrics were:

- Unpredictable call hours (i.e. when you are called in the middle of the night to solve a problem)
- Angry or stubborn parents
- Years of working with routine problems without new challenges (e.g. vaccines and well visits)

She loves anesthesiology now, but still has tremendous respect for Pediatrics.

Both great fields and good luck!
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Rachel’s Answer

My grandmother was a developmental pediatrician and spent her life taking care of patients (children) with disabilities. Her biggest challenge was taking care of the few patients who would never improve beyond their current state. Teaching parents that this would be their new normal was a very difficult task.
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Richard’s Answer

Definitely the parents! Especially now that everyone thinks they have an MD from the internet. Combating the misinformation including the anti-vaxx movement is an unnecessary job stress.
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Valerie’s Answer

The most challenging part is the parents , especially with being non-compliant. There has been many problems with parents not wanting to vaccinate their children, and it is your job to try and get them to understand why they need to do this. The parents are very worried about their sick children and may become agitated and angry when you cannot give a direct answer. Pediatrics is a beautiful specialty, and worth the time in school but there are challenges that come with it.
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