The word pediatrician is extracted from Greek and it means healer of children. Many Greek scientists argued that young, growing creatures have a lot of differences from mature ones and hence treatment methods must be different. This field started being developed in mid-19th century by a German pediatrician, Abraham Jacobi. This makes it relatively new. Jacobi was trained in Germany but later practiced in the city of New York.
The concern in this field is that genetic variance, congenital defects, and development issues in growing people are of much importance than they are in adults. Another major issue that makes adult and pediatric medicine different is that kids are considered minors in most jurisdictions and can therefore not make decisions on their own. That is why all pediatric procedures consider issues such as privacy, informed consent, legal responsibility, and guardianship.
This in essence means that the pediatrician treats parents or family rather than the kid. In the US, pediatricians are normally primary care physicians who are specialized in treatment, study, diagnosis, and prevention of medical and emotional conditions in kids. They not only provide medical services but also emotional support.
The main responsibilities performed by these experts include lowering children and infants mortality, easing difficulties incurred with terminal conditions, regulating infectious diseases, and fostering healthy lifestyles. They do treatment and diagnosis of injuries, dysfunctions and organic ailments, infections, genetic defects, and malignancies. Apart from guaranteeing physical health, they detect, manage, and prevent other issues. Social stresses, depression, and development, functional, and behavioral disorders are encompassed in other issues.
The training of pediatricians varies widely worldwide. One can get admission into a university to study pediatrics as an undergraduate or graduate student depending on the jurisdictions of the institution. Most courses last a period of four to five years. Receiving the degree qualifies one to get licensed and practice in the field. Depending on the field one decides to specialize in, the length of time needed for further training varies from four to eleven years or even more.
There are many other subspecialties in pediatrics that one can specialize in. They include pediatric cardiology, dermatology, critical care, hematology, nephrology, oncology, ophthalmology, neonatology, adolescent medicine, nephrology, rheumatology, psychiatry, infectious disease, gastroenterology, endocrinology, and pulmonology. Others include and pediatric emergency medicine, allergy and immunology, and child abuse. Primary care requires least time for further training.
Time required to train and gain certification varies in various subspecialties. The degree of extra training needed in each subspecialty also differs. Specialization in many sub-fields is possible for those who have the right experience and training. A practitioner working in this field has to collaborate with others in other fields to guarantee well being of children. This makes the pediatrics a collaborative-specialty.
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