Good bye to the kids.

I finished my rotation in pediatrics and took my exam this past Friday. The rotation was fine and I learned a lot but it confirmed my dislike for pediatric medicine. Every field in medicine has its unique problems and difficulties. Pediatrics in today's world is overrun with managed care making it difficult to even make a decent living. The pediatricians work long hours and make the least of all the specialties. Not the money is the most important aspect but you have to be able to make a decent living without working 60+ hours after all of this training.

Also as I have mentioned before, the parents you have to deal with in pediatrics make the specialty unique. In today's world every mom / dad gets on the internet and is suddenly a demanding expert on wants to run the show. You get these type of patients in other fields as well but the moms and dads tend to be much more dramatic about their kids they they would even be for themselves. You get the mom telling you why vaccines cause autism because she read blah, blah, blah. All of it is based on know real knowledge but plenty of conviction and it makes this field a little intense at times. People are passionate about their kids. I am too, so I can understand the passion but having to deal with pseudo-knowledge passion can be tough to say the least. 

Another downside for me is that the bulk of the day is dealt with treating healthy kids and really just reassuring the parents that the "ear ache" will go away and there is no need for antibiotics. Occasionally you get some sick cases which makes it exciting but you pretty much deal with a healthy population. Many doctors would count this as a strength and maybe years down the road I will say it is a strength as well but right now it is not very challenging or exciting. You are mostly seeing strep throat, otitis media, and some flu and then being told by the parents how you should be treating it. 

However I did enjoy this rotation and felt I did pretty well with it. My last 2 weeks of clinic were all in spanish as my attending was from Mexico and all of his patients were spanish speaking. It was amazing how many of the parents spoke no english. I liked it because I was able to use my spanish and it was great practice. This population was also very poor and not very educated for the most part. This patient population is actually very nice to work with. They are extremely humble and very grateful for the doctor and his / her help. They tend to complain a lot less and statistics show that they sue way less than other populations. It was very rewarding working with these patients and they were very happy that you helped their child and would hug you and express their gratitude. It was truly rewarding and I enjoyed my time with them. I could see going on medical missions and working with these under served populations when I finish my training. I came home each night feeling fulfilled and happy. I enjoyed going in each day. Also my attending let me practice with a lot of autonomy which always helps you learn much more than just watching. 

On Tuesday I start neurology which should be interesting but I am not too interested in this field. I am going in with an open mind and going to try and learn as much as I can about the diseases of the nervous system. Who knows? Maybe I will love it.