Last Updated: June 25th, 2022 by
A pediatrician is a doctor who specializes in working with young people. In other words, working in this role means being a medical physician who focuses on working with children of all ages. In some cases, you’ll continue diagnosing and treating your patients even as they grow into young adults.
To become a pediatrician, you must first work your way through medical school. Then, you’ll go through an internship and residency before specializing in the field of pediatrics. Finally, you must be licensed by the state before working with patients independently.
In this guide, we’ll explore how to become a pediatrician. That includes the process you’ll go through to become one, as well as the pay and responsibilities that you can expect from this career path.
If you have a genuine love for kids and are looking for a more personal career, read our related article on How to Become a Nanny!
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Job Description
Before we jump into how to become a pediatrician, let’s take a brief look at the job description.
Working as a pediatrician is somewhat unique compared to other types of physicians. Even though the child is your patient, they’re not the ones making decisions regarding their healthcare. Instead, this career path requires working with the family, particularly their parents.
Like any physician, you’ll perform regular health and wellness checks on your patients. As you do that, you’ll also provide health advice to parents, so they understand what to expect as their child grows.
Much of the work you do is preventive, like administering vaccines to patients according to schedule. But, during each visit, you’ll also keep records of the patient’s growth to ensure that they’re on the right track.
Of course, as a doctor, you’ll also diagnose your patients for illnesses, injuries, and other health conditions. In addition, your job will require you to administer treatments and prescribe medications as needed. On top of that, you’ll also refer patients and their families to other specialists if necessary.
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What Does an Average Day for a Pediatrician Look Like?
When you pursue how to become a pediatrician, your average day will differ slightly depending on whether you work at a hospital or in a physician’s office.
Still, here’s what you can expect from an average day working as a pediatrician:
Prepare for the Day’s Appointments
When your day begins, you’ll start preparing yourself for the day’s appointments. That means you’ll review the patients’ medical histories that you’ll be seeing later in the day.
Pediatricians who work in hospitals will use this time to update themselves on the condition of their overnight patients before meeting them later. To do that, they’ll have a brief meeting with the medical team that was working overnight and gather information from them before their shift ends.
Still, if you work in a physician’s office, you’ll also review records for the patients you’re meeting on that day. Doing so will also allow you to prepare for any treatments you’ll be administering.
Perform Rounds and Consultations
Naturally, most of your day will be spent interacting with patients and their families. You’ll visit inpatients as you perform rounds in the hospital wards, as well as outpatients who visit you at your office.
Most of your responsibilities as a pediatrician will be done during this time. For example, you’ll perform health checkups on your patients and track their growth. Plus, you’ll also administer treatments and vaccinations and prescribe medications that they might need.
However, your role as a pediatrician is somewhat unique. Not only will you deal with patients, but you’ll also interact with their parents or primary caregivers.
In this case, that means you’ll explain the child’s condition to their parents and answer any questions or concerns they might have. Also, you’ll provide healthcare advice to the patient’s family and help them understand what to expect as the child grows.
Updating Notes and Patient Records
After visiting and consulting with patients, you’ll then spend some time updating your notes and the patient’s records. These days, notes and records are digitized. That means you’ll be performing these tasks using a computer and medical software.
You must update the notes and patient records with as much helpful information as possible. That’s because, not only do you depend on those records, but so do any other medical professionals that treat the same patient.
Nurses, other doctors, and any specialists that treat them in the future will refer to your records and rely on the professional insight you provide in them.
Coordinate With Other Medical Professionals
Typically, being a pediatrician means that you’re the first point of contact for the patient and their family when it comes to healthcare. However, some patients have health issues that are beyond your expertise. In these cases, you’ll have to refer the patient to another specialist to provide better care.
Here, you’ll also have to coordinate with the doctors to whom you refer your patients. That will include explaining the patient’s health conditions to those other doctors and providing them with the patient’s medical records.
By coordinating with other medical professionals, you’re helping them provide the patient with the best care possible.
Give and Receive Additional Training
The medical field is full of different specializations, including yours in pediatrics. Specialists are often asked to attend educational conferences with other doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals for knowledge sharing.
You’ll spend some time training and advising people on pediatrics while also receiving training from other specialists.
This type of knowledge exchange happens quite often. Not only does it give you a chance to learn about other specialties and medical conditions, but it also helps sharpen your knowledge in pediatrics, as well.
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How to Become a Pediatrician: Process
Learning how to become a pediatrician is pretty straightforward. That means your overall experience will be pretty similar to those of other pediatricians that you’ll work with.
Here’s what that process will look like for you:
1. Get a Bachelor’s Degree (Pre-Med)
The first step for those researching how to become a pediatrician is getting a four-year bachelor’s degree, which is often referred to as your ‘pre-med’ stage.
There’s no fixed requirement on what type of degree you’ll have to get into medical school later, but getting into medical school is very competitive, and you’ll increase your chances of success by studying the sciences and including subjects like:
- Physical Science
- Biology
- Physics
- Healthcare-Related Subjects
Extracurriculars and Other Credentials
You’re essentially preparing to apply for medical school during your pre-med years. So, you’ll increase your chances of success with non-academic pursuits as well.
That includes participation in extracurricular activities and societies. You can also demonstrate leadership capabilities by taking leadership roles in those societies.
2. Get a Doctor of Medicine Degree (M.D.)
Once you’ve completed your Bachelor’s Degree, you’ll then have to pursue a Doctor of Medicine or MD degree. You’ll have to pass the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) before you submit your applications to the medical schools of your choice.
In some colleges and universities, this stage is combined with your pre-med years into one long program lasting a total of 6-8 years. Still, it’s also common to pursue your Bachelor’s and MD in separate institutions.
Your time at medical school consists of two phases: classroom learning and supervised work at a hospital or clinic with actual patients.
During the first phase, you’ll spend time in classrooms and laboratories learning subjects like:
- Anatomy
- Biochemistry
- Psychology
- Medical Laws and Ethics
In the second phase, afterwards, you’ll work in a medical facility while supervised by a qualified physician. Here, you’ll gain practical knowledge and experience by working with patients in a hands-on way.
3. Obtain a State License
Even with your medical degree, you won’t be able to practice with patients unsupervised without getting your license.
The requirements for licensing are different depending on which state you’re in, but all of them involve passing a standardized national exam known as the US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).
Once you’re licensed, you can then practice medicine in a medical facility in your state.
4. Complete a Pediatrics Residency
The next step in how to become a pediatrician is to go through a pediatrics residency. You can expect this stage to last 3 years. It involves working closely with pediatrics specialists and interacting with young patients.
During this time, your day-to-day responsibilities will be focused on patients that fall within the pediatrics age range, giving you a chance to develop your skills in this area.
5. Pursue a Subspeciality
While pediatrics is a specialization on its own, you can also choose to dive deeper into sub-specialties within the field.
According to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, some of those sub-specialties include:
- Pediatric Oncology (diagnosing and treating cancer)
- Pediatric Cardiology (diagnosing and treating heart conditions)
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine (responding to medical emergencies)
- Pediatric Surgery (performing surgery on children)
6. Get Board Certified (Optional)
Becoming board certified is not compulsory for all doctors. However, this is a way for doctors to challenge themselves and pursue a higher recognition standard.
As a board-certified pediatrician, you’ll increase your ability to find jobs while improving your earning potential.
To become board certified as a pediatrician, you must qualify for and pass the American Board of Pediatrics certifying examination. When you succeed, you will be awarded the title of “Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics” and be considered ‘board certified’.
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Are You Suited for a Pediatrician Career? Skills, Credentials, Tools & Technology
Learning how to become a pediatrician and working as a pediatrician comes with its fair share of challenges.
So, to go far in this line of work, you must have or be willing to develop the following skills and proficiencies:
Personality and Skills
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), people learning how to become a pediatrician must have strong communication skills, compassion, and problem-solving skills.
As mentioned before, pediatricians also interact with the patient’s family, namely their parents or primary caregivers. Because of that, you’ll need the skills to communicate with both children and adults.
In many cases, you’ll be working with patients and their families during some of the most challenging times of their lives. So, having compassion will also take you a very long way in this field.
Lastly, a high degree of problem-solving skills are also necessary to help diagnose and treat whatever is affecting your patients.
Credentials and Proficiencies
The US Department of Labor also points out that people learning how to become a pediatrician must have proficiencies in medical knowledge and technology skills.
In terms of medical knowledge, pediatricians specialize in understanding how medical conditions affect children differently from adults.
As part of their day-to-day responsibilities, they must also know how to use medical databases to get information and medical software to retrieve and update patients’ medical histories.
How Does a Pediatrician Find Work?
Now that you know how to become a pediatrician, let’s see how you’ll go about finding work.
A significant portion of pediatricians finds work through networking. For instance, they’ll apply to work with the same medical facility or supervisors they worked with during their medical training, internship, or residences.
However, you can also find work using more conventional approaches like submitting job applications directly to hospitals or clinics. The most efficient way to find work this way is to focus on the places that hire them the most.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the places that hire the most pediatricians are:
- Physician’s offices
- General hospitals
- Outpatient care centres
To narrow down your search, look for the medical facilities from those categories with dedicated pediatrics departments, as they’ll have more openings for people within your specialization.
Then, check their websites for job openings or contact them directly. Be sure to give them a copy of your resume or CV if there are future job openings they could contact you about.
What’s the Average Salary of a Pediatrician?
If you’re wondering how to become a pediatrician, you’ll be happy to discover that the average salaries are promising for this career.
Statistics show that pediatricians earn an average of $184,570 per year. The top 90th percentile earns more than $208,000, while the bottom 10th percentile earns $69,470 on average.
The highest-paying states for his line of work are:
- Montana ($268,760 a year)
- Alaska ($263,390 a year)
- Utah ($255,900 a year)
- New Hampshire ($255,170 a year)
- Wisconsin ($246,020 a year)
As someone learning how to become a pediatrician, you can increase your earning potential by pursuing board certification and further subspecialization.
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Pediatrician Job Growth
While the salary expectations are high for those wanting to know how to become a pediatrician, the outlook is slightly dim.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that job growth for pediatricians between 2020 and 2030 will drop by 2%, or by 500 job positions.
With slightly fewer job positions available, you can expect increased competition in the field of pediatrics. To increase your chances of success, consider pursuing one of the top subspecialties listed below.
Top 5 Pediatric Subspecialties
According to a research paper in the journal Pediatric Research, the pediatric subspecialties that have historically shown the most growth from 2001-2018 are:
Cardiology
Here, you’ll specialize in heart conditions as experienced by child patients.
Critical Care
Critical care involves the treatment of patients suffering from severe conditions requiring 24-hour care.
Emergency Medicine
This subspecialty focuses on diagnosing and treating emergency medical situations, like injuries and accidents.
Gastroenterology
In this specialty, your focus will be on the conditions that affect patients’ digestive systems.
Neonatology
Lastly, this area focuses on diagnosing and treating newborn patients, including those born prematurely or with illnesses.
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Professional Associations
A list of professional associations to consider for those wanting to know how to become a pediatrician:
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Federation of Pediatric Organizations (FOPO)
Academy of Pediatric Association (APA)
American Pediatric Society (APS)
Council of Pediatric Subspecialties (CoPS)
Top Colleges and Universities
A list of the best colleges and universities for those wanting to learn how to become a pediatrician: