What is a Pediatrician?

A pediatrician is a doctor who specializes in the care of infants, children and adolescents. The word pediatrician means "healer of children." The world pediatrics comes from the Greek words pais (children) and iatros (doctor). As with adult medicine, a pediatrician can work as a general practitioner or specialize in a specific branch of medicine such as cardiology or oncology.

Identification

• Some of the differences between caring for adults and caring for children are obvious. Children have smaller bodies. A pediatrician studies developmental patterns in children the way physicians study maturation patterns in adults. The body in its infant condition is quite different from adults. As a result, pediatricians place greater emphasis in studying congenital defects, genetic variances and developmental issues. A pediatrician must have thorough knowledge of developmental patterns in order to differentiate between normal and pathological variations.

Features

• Pediatricians may have subspecialties. Every subspecialty of adult medicine exists in pediatrics, except for geriatrics. The difference lies in the difference between children and adults. A pediatric cardiologist, for example, studies congenital heart defects while a pediatric oncologist specializes in cancers more common to children such as leukemia and sarcoma.

History

• Children's medicine likely dates back to the 9th century. Persian physician Rhazes wrote "The Diseases of Children," the first book to deal with pediatrics as an independent branch of medicine. His teacher Ali Ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari was also a pioneer in child development. He wrote about child development in his work Firdous Al-Himakh. In 1530, Thomas Phaer was the first westerner to write a book on children's medicine. The Hospital for Sick Children was founded in 1852 in England, the oldest children's hospital in the English speaking world. German-American Abraham Jacobi is considered the father of American pediatrics.

Function

• A pediatrician will normally spend 11 years in school. The medical student will typically complete a Bachelor's degree (4 years, completing premed requirements), medical school (4 years), a 1-year pediatric internship, followed by a 2-year pediatric residency. Those who wish to specialize (for example, pediatric cardiology), will have to complete additional training. In the UK and Commonwealth, a medical degree course may take 4 to 6 years. A student can enter at either the undergrad or graduate level.

Geography

• There are differences between the American pediatrician and the British pediatrician. Both specialize in the care of children. However, in the U.S., a pediatrician works as a primary care practitioner while a pediatrician treats children in urgent care or children who are referred by primary care practitioners. The training process for the American pediatrician is similar to the German Kinderarzt, medical school, a pediatric internship, followed by pediatric residency. In the UK, a pediatrician would normally earn a general medical degree followed by 2 years of general clinical training then 6 or more years of training in pediatrics or chosen subspecialties.