Paediatrician Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a paediatrician. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a paediatrician.
Who is a Paediatrician?
Doctors that specialize in the care of children are known as paediatricians. They deal with medical issues that affect children, babies, and teenagers.
Types of Paediatricians
General paediatrics is a hospital specialty that treats children from infancy to age 16. The majority of paediatricians have this generalist position
Neonatology, which focuses on the care of newborn babies. Especially babies who are born prematurely.
Community paediatrics – These community-based doctors treat children with developmental, social, or behavioural issues, as well as those with physical disabilities.
Pediatric cardiology – This is a small area that is considered a specialization in and of itself. These doctors diagnose and treat cardiac (heart) problems in children.
Endocrinology Pediatricians: Your responsibilities in this profession will include treating children who are not growing abnormally, diabetic children, thyroid disease patients, and other hormonal abnormalities.
Emergency Pediatrics: is a subspecialty of pediatrics that focuses on children in emergency settings. Emergency Pediatricians, for example, treat asthma attacks, pneumonia, poisoning, trauma, and injury in children.
Critical paediatricians: As a critical pediatrician, you’ll be responsible for treating liver failure, neurological illnesses, lung and heart ailments, and long-term infections in children.
Paediatrician Job Description
Below are the paediatrician job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a job description for your employee. Employers can use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
- Examine newborns and young children on a frequent basis to monitor and document their health and typical physical development.
- Examine unwell children to evaluate their condition and use open-ended inquiries to learn about their symptoms.
- Make an informed diagnosis based on scientific understanding and personal medical history.
- Prescribe drugs and provides precise administration instructions.
- Prescribe and interpret relevant laboratory tests to learn more about probable illnesses or abnormalities.
- Prepare and administer vaccines in accordance with the government’s immunization programme.
- Examine and treat injuries, and if necessary, refer small patients to specialists in other fields (e.g. surgeons, ophthalmologists, orthopedists, etc.)
- Assist parents with their children’s diet, activity, and disease prevention.
- Maintain current records of patients’ diseases, surgeries, and other medical events (allergic shocks, injuries, etc.)
- Attend seminars and conferences to stay up to date on pediatric developments and best practices.
Qualifications
- A medical degree and completion of a pediatric residency and fellowship are required.
- To practice pediatrics, you must have a license and certification.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication abilities, as well as an ability to relate to youngsters.
- Strong problem-solving, diagnostic, and decision-making abilities.
- Skills in organization, leadership, and teamwork.
- When working with children and their families, you must have a loving and sensitive temperament.
Essential skills of a Paediatrician
- Ability to communicate effectively
Both the children and their parents should be able to converse with a pediatrician. It is critical to pay close attention to the children and their guardians in order to improve communication. There’s a catch! A pediatrician should pay attention to what the kids aren’t saying to her. When interacting with youngsters, doctors are supposed to pick up on nonverbal indications. The importance of nonverbal clues is equivalent to that of vocal utterances. A professional physician formulates her inquiries in a straightforward and uncomplicated manner, then analyzes how their young patients respond to them. She must look for signs of anguish and distress in the youngster, as well as avoidance of direct eye contact. Pediatricians are supposed to communicate at a child’s level to make engagement easier for the kids.
- A thorough understanding of various cultures
It makes no difference whether the pediatrician works in an urban or suburban area; she must be prepared to work with people of many ethnicities and backgrounds. She should not expect all of her parents to speak English fluently to her. For persons who do not speak English as a first language, communicating in fluent English might be difficult. Apart from that, a physician should be aware that culture has a significant impact on a child’s health. It is advantageous to have a good command of languages other than English. A doctor must be sensitive to the cultures of others. These are the talents that can be learned or improved through job experience in a variety of settings and cultures.
- Ability to Solve Problems
The professional Pediatric medical course teaches a doctor how to manage several common ailments. She could be dealing with these challenges on a regular basis. Even if the problem is widespread, the clinician should treat each patient as if they were a new puzzle. Every youngster has a unique reaction to their problems. This is why, even when the problem is the same, each case is unique. She should be able to quickly examine the matter, analyze it from all angles, and make a solid decision. She should always be prepared to upgrade her knowledge and incorporate new facts. Concentration is essential for mastering these problem-solving skills, which include researching and analyzing.
- Organizing abilities
To balance patient loads with paperwork, calls, studies, research, and lab results, pediatricians require great organizing abilities. A Paediatrician should be able to have an order of priority for which tasks should be completed first based on their priority. Time management expertise is a skill that will enable her to fulfill each appointment on time and successfully. If she is in charge of supervising others, she must assist the team in making the most of their time in a productive and structured manner.
- A Talent for Working with Children
Pediatricians must have a natural aptitude to interact with children, despite the fact that the function of a pediatrician appears to be identical to that of a regular physician and the two require many of the same abilities. A lot of kids are afraid of going to the doctor’s office, and once there, things such as needles and testing may intimidate them. A pediatrician must be able to connect with children and assist them in relaxing by making them feel at ease in their surroundings.
- Pay close attention to the details.
Strong communication skills are often insufficient for a physician to recognize the condition due to the difficulty that certain children may have in communicating their symptoms. When children are too upset to communicate their feelings or lack the vocabulary to do so, the pediatrician must be able to detect even seemingly insignificant characteristics that may help them accurately diagnose a medical problem.
- Empathy
Most doctors require empathy in order to do their jobs successfully, but pediatricians require it even more. Children have a lower tolerance for physical pain and emotional suffering than adults, and the pediatrician should be aware of this and take proactive measures to reduce these negative consequences. This is beneficial to them professionally as well because children are more inclined to communicate effectively with an adult who appears to understand them.
- Teamwork
A large percentage of pediatricians work in groups, which may include nurses, other medical workers, and other doctors. They must be able to share some responsibilities with other members of the medical team in order to increase the chances of a rapid and effective medical procedure. For more complex health situations, they may need to interact with specialists, and they should be able to provide them with quality information and advise on the specifics of each issue.
How to Become a Paediatrician
You must first complete an undergraduate course in medical science, then complete four years of medical school study before beginning your residency or internship program.
Residency is relative to the individual. That’s when you start specializing in pediatric tasks including avoiding diseases in children, detecting and treating babies with birth defects, and assisting children in their development and growth.
Undergraduate Studies
The first three years of your education will help you master the fundamentals of medical science and prepare you for medical school activities. The majority of your courses will be focused on pre-medical programs, but you may be required to take courses in Biology, Chemistry, or Mathematics as well.
School of Medicine
The only method to become a certified medical practitioner is to attend medical school. At this point, it normally takes another three to four years to finish your studies. Courses such as pharmacology, psychology, anatomy, biochemistry, medical ethics, and pathology will be covered.
You will be introduced to clinical training at the end of your medical school studies when you will engage in more practical exercises than academic ones.
Residency
After completing medical school, the next step in your career is to participate in a residency program at a health care facility. This is where you’ll be able to deal with real-life medical situations while being monitored by professionals in your field. During your residency, you will have the chance to focus on pediatrics as a distinct branch of medicine. This stage of your profession may take a few years to accomplish, but every minute will be well worth it.
Aside from the fact that you will be compensated for your services, this is where you will be able to gain first-hand experience working with children with medical concerns.
License
The next step in your professional development is to become a licensed medical practitioner. You must have passed the licensure examination organized by your country of origin or the country in where you studied in order for this to happen.
For example, in order to practice pediatrics professionally in the United States, you must first pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).
Some countries, however, recognize licenses issued by other countries.
Certificate of Qualification
You can supplement your qualifications with a variety of certifications. The truth is that a certification verifies your expertise in the subject and improves your chances of finding your dream job swiftly.
Most countries prefer certain certification programs, especially ones issued in their own country. Ensure that the institution giving your certificate is generally acknowledged in any country you choose to begin your career as a doctor.
Where to work
Pediatricians operate in a variety of settings, including hospitals, private practice offices, HMOs, community health centers, public health clinics, schools, and the military and government. They are less likely to start their own practice and are more likely to work in group medical offices as salaried workers.
Hospitals
Children are seen by paediatricians in surgery, a clinic, or a community health center. Many work in public and private children’s hospitals, where they treat babies in maternity units, special care baby units, and neonatal critical care units, among other places. Some paediatricians work in hospitals’ accident and emergency departments.
They are frequently part of a multidisciplinary team that includes doctors, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals.
Community health centers
Community paediatricians are pediatricians who meet children and their families outside of the hospital setting. Community paediatricians have received specialized training in child development and health.
Schools
The pediatrician’s office is often the first stop for parents when their children are having trouble in school. Although school performance issues may appear to be outside the scope of typical primary health care, the primary care practitioner can play a number of crucial roles. Identifying medical conditions that may affect performance, assisting the family in forming an intervention team, and acting as the child’s advocate while dealing with the school are just a few examples. Furthermore, pediatricians must be knowledgeable about the cognitive, emotional, and developmental issues that affect school achievement, another goal is assisting parents in becoming active participants in their children’s learning.
Military
Children of military troops receive medical and emergency care from military pediatricians. Patients are examined, case histories are reviewed, medical tests are ordered and interpreted, diseases and injuries are diagnosed, and treatment is prescribed or provided, including therapy or drugs.
Paediatrician Salary Scale
As of October 29, 2021, the average Physician – Pediatrics pay in the United States was $208,408, however, the range frequently ranges between $181,595 and $249,137. Salary ranges rely on a variety of things, including schooling, certifications, supplementary talents, and the number of years you’ve worked in your field.
The compensation of a senior consultant paediatrician in most teaching hospitals and federal medical centres in Nigeria is between #800,000 – #1,000,000 Naira monthly, according to the newly enhanced salary structure to reflect the newly improved minimum wage. A senior registrar (senior resident doctor) in pediatrics makes around #450,000 – #550,000 Naira per month, whereas a junior registrar (junior resident) gets around #300,000 – #450,000 Naira per month. These types of doctors can supplement their income by working in private practice. A Paediatrician’s Salary Scale in Nigeria, like that of other professions, has to be upgraded and evaluated.