Pediatrics

Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics or pædiatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents, and the age limit usually ranges from birth up to 18 (in some places until completion of secondary education, and until age 21 in the United States). A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician, or paediatrician. The word paediatrics and its cognates mean healer of children.

In the United States, a pediatrician is often a primary care physician who specializes in children, whilst in the Commonwealth a paediatrician in paediatrics but generally not as a primary general practitioner.

Education

Pediatricians are medical doctors who have completed additional training in the field of child health and development. They are licensed to assess and diagnose health conditions, as well as provide treatment and support to children and their families.

Preventive care

One of the key roles of a pediatrician is to provide preventive care. This involves regular check-ups and immunizations to help ensure that children are growing and developing normally. Pediatricians may also identify and treat health conditions that are common in children, such as respiratory infections, allergies, and injuries.

Chronic conditions

In addition to providing preventive care and treating common health conditions, pediatricians may also be involved in managing chronic health conditions that affect children. These may include conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and epilepsy. In these cases, pediatricians work closely with their patients and their families to develop a treatment plan that meets the child's unique needs and goals.

Work environment

Pediatricians may work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, and private practices. They may also be involved in research, education, and policy development related to child health.

History

In the Western world, the first generally accepted pediatric hospital is the Hôpital des Enfants Malades (French: Hospital for Sick Children), which opened in Paris in June 1802 on the site of a previous orphanage. From its beginning, this famous hospital accepted patients up to the age of fifteen years, and it continues to this day as the pediatric division of the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, created in 1920 by merging with the physically contiguous Necker Hospital, founded in 1778.

This example was only gradually followed in other European countries. The Charité (a hospital founded in 1710) in Berlin established a separate Pediatric Pavilion in 1830, followed by similar institutions at Sankt Petersburg in 1834, and at Vienna and Breslau (now Wrocław), both in 1837. The English-speaking world waited until 1852 for its first pediatric hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, some fifty years after the founding of its namesake in Paris. In the USA, the first similar institutions were the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which opened in 1855, and then Boston Children's Hospital (1869).

Differences between adult and pediatric medicine

The body size differences are paralleled by maturational changes. The smaller body of an infant or neonate is substantially different physiologically from that of an adult. Congenital defects, genetic variance, and developmental issues are of greater concern to pediatricians than they often are to adult physicians.

A major difference between pediatrics and adult medicine is that children are minors and, in most jurisdictions, cannot make decisions for themselves. The issues of guardianship, privacy, legal responsibility and informed consent must always be considered in every pediatric procedure. In a sense, pediatricians often have to treat the parents and sometimes, the family, rather than just the child. Adolescents are in their own legal class, having rights to their own health care decisions in certain circumstances. In basic terms, pediatricians take care of all of the children's needs from emotional support to medical support.

Training of pediatricians

The training of pediatricians varies considerably across the world. Depending on jurisdiction and university, a medical degree course may be either undergraduate-entry or graduate-entry. The former commonly takes five or six years, and has been usual in the Commonwealth. Entrants to graduate-entry courses (as in the USA), usually lasting four or five years, have previously completed a three- or four-year university degree, commonly but by no means always in sciences. Medical graduates hold a degree specific to the country and university in and from which they graduated. This degree qualifies that medical practitioner to become licensed or registered under the laws of that particular country, and sometimes of several countries, subject to requirements for "internship" or "conditional registration". Pediatricians must undertake further training in their chosen field. This may take from four to eleven or more years, (depending on jurisdiction and the degree of specialization). The post-graduate training for a primary care physician, including primary care pediatricians, is generally not as lengthy as for a hospital-based medical specialist. In most jurisdictions, entry-level degrees are common to all branches of the medical profession, but in some jurisdictions, specialization in pediatrics may begin before completion of this degree. In some jurisdictions, pediatric training is begun immediately following completion of entry-level training. In other jurisdictions, junior medical doctors must undertake generalist (unstreamed) training for a number of years before commencing pediatric (or any other) specialization. Specialist training is often largely under the control of pediatric organizations (see below) rather than universities,and depending on jurisdiction.

Summary

It is important to note that the field of pediatrics is broad and complex, and pediatricians often work as part of a team of healthcare professionals to provide the best possible care to their patients. This may include working with other doctors, nurses, and other specialists, as well as collaborating with social workers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals.

Subspecialties

Subspecialties of pediatrics include:

• Adolescent Medicine
• Child Abuse Pediatrician
• Neonatology
• Pediatric allergy and immunology
• Pediatric cardiology
• Pediatric critical care
• Pediatric dermatology
• Pediatric emergency medicine
• Pediatric endocrinology
• Pediatric gastroenterology
• Pediatric hematology
• Pediatric infectious disease
• Pediatric nephrology
• Pediatric neuropsychology
• Pediatric oncology
• Pediatric ophthalmology
• Pediatric psychiatry
• Pediatric pulmonology
• Pediatric rheumatology

Pediatric health condtions

• List of pediatric health conditions
• Glossary of pediatrics
• Dictionary of pediatrics

See also

• Children's hospital
• Medical specialty
• Child life specialist
• Pain in babies
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics
• Pediatric nurse practitioner
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH)

Some of the common tests and procedures performed by pediatricians include:

Blood tests including

• Liver function tests and kidney function tests, blood cholesterol
• Blood lead levels
• Scoliosis
• Tuberculosis skin testing or blood tests
• CBC with differential
• CMP blood test
• Allergy tests
• Throat culture

Imaging studies such as:

• CT Scan
• X-ray
• Ultrasound
• MRI
• Echocardiogram (ECHO)
• Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG)
• Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Video EEG
• Electromyogram (EMG) Laboratory Examination
• Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)
• Esophagram

Other tests such as:

• Exercise-induced asthma testing
• Sleep study
• Spirometry testing

List of Pediatricians (USA)

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

US territories

• American Samoa
• Guam
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Puerto Rico
• U.S. Virgin Islands
• District of Columbia

Glossary of Pediatrics

Pediatric glossary of terms | Glossary of medical terms | Dictionary of pediatrics

Find a pediatrician

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• Delaware
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• Illinois
• Indiana
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• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
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• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
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Further reading

• Contemporary Pediatrics – a monthly magazine
• Clinical Pediatrics – a peer-reviewed journal
• Consultant for Pediatricians – a peer-reviewed journal

External links

• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Canadian Paediatric Society
• Pediatric Collection by the BMJ – Collection of Pediatric papers published in the British Medical Journal.
• Health-EU Portal – Babies' and Children's health in the EU
• Paediatrics.info
• New York University Pediatrics Video Lectures
• Infant Feeders Collection – A historical collection of infant feeding devices from the UBC Library Digital Collections
• Detailed Guide on Becoming a Pediatrician

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