Paediatrics is a challenging, rewarding and stimulating specialty. Dealing with the secondary and tertiary medical care of children, it encompasses a wide range of different types of practice.

The trainees view

Paediatrics had never been my career intention until I undertook my paediatric placement in the final year of medical school.  It was then that I realised I had found a specialty I could be truly excited about, and motivated in, and I have no regrets! 

Paediatrics is an extremely rewarding specialty, where the clinical outcome is mostly good, and the patients are fun to work with.  It really is a truly diverse specialty with opportunities to sub-specialise later in your career.  This might range from the care of children with complex disabilities, promoting the welfare of 'at risk' children,  to paediatric A&E or intensive care - and because of that, you find a diverse and interesting group of colleagues to work alongside.

Highlights

• Job satisfaction - knowing that what you do really can make a lifetime's difference to children and their families
• Being a true 'generalist' - paediatricians have an extremely varied working day - the career is probably the most varied of all the medical specialties - from providing intensive care for extremely sick children and neonates, to assessing development and behavioural issues - there really is something for everyone
• Working within a friendly, caring and motivated team - it's rare to find a mean paediatrician!

Challenges

• Communicating with, and working alongside parents during one of the most stressful experiences of their lives
• Whilst the outcome for most patients is good; paediatrics can be emotionally demanding when the outcome is not so favourable
• Out of hours commitments - most of the excitement in paediatrics happens out of hours - no night shift is dull!

My advice to anyone considering paediatrics is to choose a career that you think you will find challenging, intellectually stimulating and exciting over a lifetime - working patterns, salary and hours will inevitably change but the underlying principles of a specialty won't.  Choose something you can be really passionate about.  For me, paediatrics offers all those things - there are difficult times, but the rewards always outweigh the challenges!

Becky Hicks, ST4 at St Helier NHS Trust