Certain topics should not be restricted to specific groups of people. Not only parents and aspiring pediatricians need to know about the top pediatric residency programs because we all would someday have to care for some children, making this a topic essential to everyone.
Not just that – some children may have to take on the responsibilities of an adult faster than others.
Rest assured, we have done justice to the given topic herein. You will obtain as much information as possible on pediatric residency as a topic.
By the end of this article, you will be able to answer several pediatric questions you know nothing about before. We shall begin with the issue no later than now.
What is Pediatrics?
We must first understand what the term pediatric means. Pediatrics is the branch of medicine concerned with the social, mental, and physical care of children, adolescents, infants, and young adults. Unlike other aspects of medicine, this is focused on attending to children for their well-being.
In some countries, there are restrictions on the age of patients that can benefit from pediatric services. Often patients above the age of eighteen are regarded as adults and will thus not be able to help from the children’s hospitals.
Medicine is a broad field with several terms for different things. These terms expand to the various doctors we have in the industry. Therefore children’s doctors are not just called doctors too. The specialists are referred to as pediatricians.
Are you wondering why a separate hospital or doctor should be for children? Keep reading; all of these shall be examined later in this piece.
Where Do Pediatricians Work?
Most pediatricians work in hospitals and care for patients, while others may have to work in doctors’ offices. And as we all know, pediatricians work to ensure the sound health of younger ones.
Therefore you can expect one anywhere children are cared for in the world. Where a pediatrician will work in any healthcare center is determined by the employers or the doctor’s area of specialization.
A person majoring in treating children does not mean they can attend to all kinds of children’s physical, mental, and social well-being problems.
As a result, we shall look at the two significant areas pediatricians can specialize in – remember that it is a factor that can contribute to where they work. The areas are:
- Autoimmune Disorders
- Pediatric Surgery
When we talk about autoimmune disorders pediatricians, we refer to children’s doctors who care for children with some diseases in their body tissues. Several autoimmune disorder illnesses are caused to happen when there is a mistaken attack on the healthy body’s tissues by the immune system.
Women often experience these disorders from around age 15 to 44 – a disease that children are often affected with. However, it is more common among people of certain ethnic groups than others.
Some common autoimmune diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, Addison’s disease, grave’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and sjögren’s syndrome, to mention a few.
Pediatricians known for pediatric surgery are referred to as pediatric surgeons. And as the name suggests, they are trained to carry out surgery on young adults, adolescents, children, infants, and fetuses.
For these specialties to be employed in hospitals or clinics, they must meet the following education requirement: Doctor of Medicine, Master of Surgery, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, or Master of Chirurgie.
Regardless of where a pediatrician works, they are expected to be good at counseling, psychology, biology, and customer and personal service, to mention but a few. A close look at the nature of pediatrics will give you several reasons why practitioners should be skilled in the fields mentioned.
The said skills are needed to care for children effectively, and since all pediatricians have the job of caring for children, they should exhibit the traits in common. Anyway, this is one reason why medicine is a broad field of study in science.
Top Pediatric Residency Programs
Where should you go if you desire to attend one of the best pediatric residency programs in the world? Below are some of the most highly rated institutions to run your pediatric residency program.
1. University of Cincinnati
If the University of Cincinnati is your choice, then you should plan on paying the full-time tuition fee, which goes for $32,980 for the in-state and $51,244 for the out-of-state. Meanwhile, the application fee costs $100.
2. Harvard University
Harvard University must be here on the list. It appears to be ranked second on the world’s list; it is one of the best regardless of that, though.
You can take the full-time pediatric program at Harvard University, Boston, MA, for $66,284.
3. Johns Hopkins University
If you want the best, the school of medicine at Johns Hopkins University is another place you can choose from on the list. With over 400 candidates for the full-time program, the school charges $58,000 for tuition fees.
4. University of Washington
The University of Washington, charging roughly $39,906 for the program, with over 1,000 enrollments, is another institution you want to consider to get the best training.
5. University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania or Perelman school of medicine is also not expensive and is one of the best places you can be trained to be an incredible children’s doctor.
The full-time tuition fee charged at the University is 61,586 dollars.
6. University of Colorado
The University of Colorado, founded in 1876, is another choice you want to consider. The institution charges $42,390 for its in-state full-time tuition fee.
On the other hand, its out-of-state tuition fee is $67,110, with an application fee of $100.
7. Baylor College of Medicine
If you doubt your ability to cater to the fees of these programs (which seem too expensive), then you probably want to settle for Baylor College of Medicine, which is so cheap and plentiful.
The institution charges $19,425 for its full-time pediatric program.
8. University of California, San Francisco
You must have heard of the University of California. It is one other medical school rated high in pediatric residency programs.
At the institution, the in-state tuition fee costs $38,920, while out-of-state tuition is $51,175; for the full-time pediatric program.
The top pediatric residency programs on our list are as gathered from the US news. They are at the top you can get on any other list because the United States is regarded as the best country for pediatric programs.
Eligibility for Pediatric Residency Programs
Do you love children? Your love for children, in addition to your interest in the medical line, is what you need. Here are the requirements for pediatric residency programs:
- Applicants must at least have been done with high school or (secondary) education to take up any pediatric residency programs.
- A good background in medicine, which means having science knowledge from secondary or high school, is also essential.
- Anyone who took courses that prepare people for accountancy in high school, for instance, will have it relatively challenging to take pediatric residency programs.
- Sometimes applicants may also be required to have been at least 21 years of age. This depends on institutions and their standards.
Ideally, a child should not learn to treat another child professionally, making it quite impossible for the field to take in students or applicants below teenage.
How Long Do Pediatric Residency Programs Last?
The pediatric residency program alone can take you up to three years in institutions like the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. This is unlike medicine and surgery, which is also in the medical field.
Why go for a pediatric program alone? There are several other courses you can combine with this to have an optimized qualification that allows you to work at better hospitals or clinics. This may nevertheless require you to spend long years of training.
It will take four years if you plan to study pediatrics combined with medical genetics. You will perform the required rotation in the pediatric internship for the first 12 months in medical genetics and pediatrics training.
With this, we won’t go wrong to say you are to determine how much you stay in school studying pediatrics. Your age may be a factor you want to consider in thinking of whether to combine courses or not, which ultimately affects the number of years you will have to spend.
Do Pediatric Residents Get Paid?
Yes. Pediatric residents get paid like practitioners of other residency programs. Not only do pediatric residents get paid, they enjoy a few other things that can reinforce anyone to remain in the field.
One such additional benefit is the $500 annual allowance for education. Residents are free to request this money for software, books, or in the name of other educational expenses.
There is more to this. Pediatricians have access to the computer and two libraries (in and outpatient) for the consultation of several of the late iconic authors in the medical field.
It is also possible for a resident to make a $500 request for attendance or presentation at national academic conferences.
Residents get travel reimbursement when going on a trip to see clinic sites or have off-campus clinical experiences.
When they work evening hours, meal money will be added to the Mcard of pediatricians.
These entire make pediatric residency one good program to run at school and an excellent career to settle for. Many also take the course for other reasons including recreational benefits.
Which Residency Programs Pay The Most?
Some residency programs earn more than others. If your dream of studying a residency program is based on the monetary aspect of the field, then it’s still okay, although I would advise you to make passion come first if I had my chance.
Understanding the various residency programs available is the prerequisite to knowing the highest-paying programs. Some of the most recognized include:
Pediatric Residency
- Neurology residency
- Anesthesiology residency
- Family Medicine residency
- Pathology residency
- Radiology diagnostic residency
- General surgery residency
- Internal Medicine residency
Now that we have strayed a little to see what some other related fields we can choose from are, we should look at the ones that pay more.
The following residency programs are said to pay the most:
- Aesthetic medicine/plastic surgery can earn practitioners anywhere around $65,600
- Specialized surgeons earn about $65,700
- The HIV or infectious diseases specialists can reach you roughly $66,500
- Allergy and Immunology practitioners can earn as much as the HIV/Infectious diseases specialists; $66,500
- Medical geneticists earn about $67,500 in salaries.
Does this means the program; pediatric residency we’ve been talking about does not pay well? No, a study has shown that pediatric residents could earn as much as $48,000 monthly. This is quite close to what some plastic surgeons make.
Moreso, pediatricians, earn well. As gathered from sources, $232,000 is the average annual making for a pediatrician. One can make more than this if they get paid about $50,000 or $48,000 monthly.
Nonetheless, the earnings may also depend on some factors. Your salary can’t remain the same as a pediatrician who goes for subspecialty training.
Why Pediatric Residency?
Not to limit or direct the topic anywhere, the world generally needs pediatricians in service for a thousand and one reasons.
Children should not be compared with adults, even though many believe age does not count in today’s world. Regarding well-being, children need more special treatments than already grown individuals.
And as a result, considering pediatric residency programs is vital for the following reasons:
Pediatricians are specially trained to treat younger ones. It would be absurd to think that children can cope when they receive the same treatment as adults. Because of this, most of them focus on treating children-specific illnesses.
The program is also very essential when it comes to preventing children’s care. The immunization of children would be duly traced back to the practice of having pediatric residency programs in good shape.
Some of these ideas have been helpful to the world at large over the years, knowing well that most of us cannot also ignore the role of pediatrics in our lives.
Come to think of the psychology and counseling aspect of pediatrics. Many people fall into the wrong hands because they were not correctly oriented on the things to do and those to avoid while coming up.
Pediatricians can help get our younger ones aware of the dangers of attempting certain things, which will somewhat reflect their future.
Another reason why you may want to consider pediatrics is money. You probably don’t want to settle for less or do something that wouldn’t help you cater well enough for your family, making this a good choice in addition to your love for children.
Even though it is similar to medicine and surgery, the program does not take too long to study. Suppose you also want to help people restore their health, and you can’t study medicine and surgery because it takes too long to be completed, then you can opt for pediatrics.
In that case, you can have pediatric residency programs as an alternative. Not only will you finish your course on time, but it is also less expensive to study.
In a nutshell, raising healthy children in our societies is ensured by the children’s hospitals and pediatricians. This program, therefore, is very significant and necessary in our communities today since we all want to raise healthy children.
Frequently Asked Questions
We shall quickly look at some of the frequently asked questions by people regarding the given topic. Some of them are like build-on points for the previously analyzed questions.
Having a look at them before leaving will also help you. Let’s take five of them.
How Many Pediatric Residency Spots Are There In the US?
A recent study has shown that as of 2021, the United States has 210 pediatric residency training programs. This is a commonly asked question since it appears the country is also known for its efficiency in children’s care.
Which Country Offers the Best Pediatric Residency Programs?
The United States stands to be the country offering the best pediatric residency programs and home to ten of the top hospitals in the world, while Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio, USA, is arguably the best in the world, and the hospital is said to admit over 30,000 patients every year usually.
Its emergency department treats about 100,000 patients yearly.
What are the Good Pediatric Residency Programs?
It is nice you don’t want to settle for less. Your knowledge matters to you and to everyone who will visit you later on as a pediatric resident. Below are some excellent pediatric residency programs you can attend.
Note: The bracket after every institution mentioned here consists of the minimum (in-state) tuition fee for the said program.
- Indiana University ($36k+)
- Duke University ($63k+)
- University of Michigan ($43k+)
- Stanford University ($63k+)
- New York University
- Case Western Reserve University ($68k+)
- Columbia University ($66k+)
- Emory University ($52k+)
You hopefully must have read our note on the top pediatric residency programs some paragraphs back. If you skipped that aspect of the piece for anything, ensure you go back to look at the several institutions there.
We have had to include this because it is also commonly asked by people, and merging it with the previous list may not be ideal enough for easy comprehension.
Is Pediatric Residency Hard?
I would say pediatric residency is easy. And this point shall be accompanied by a few moments. This is quite a competitive course in countries like the United States and India. Regardless of this, it is a short-term program to take up.
Nevertheless, it would help if you remembered that we all do not find the same thing easy or hard (as the case may be) in life.
Specific courses in preparation for the life of a pediatrician may seem to thwart you along the line, but it’s okay. You have to believe it is not hard and create interest in it.
In a nutshell, your passion for this branch of medicine is what matters. And I bet if it is there, people won’t bother learning about whether or not pediatric residency is hard.
If you would like to study this, look within to be sure your interest is in it – you don’t have it? Then build it. This should be the first thing you create as you prepare to be a children’s doctor.
Conclusion
It may not be, but in all honesty, pediatrics as a branch of medicine is also broad, especially when combined with other courses.
There are various areas open to pediatricians to specialize in, but be sure it’s your choice to choose from. You can either choose to be a general pediatrician or specialist in any of the available areas in your institution of study – I have this to say as a concluding statement on the topic.
