Pediatrics

First, I would like to thank all of you for being so supportive about what we are going through. It is incredibly comforting to know that I am surrounded by people with faith in both the Lord's plan and in Jeff and I. (Spring break is next week, so my goal will be to update you on all of my rotations and other things we've been up to.)



I did my pediatrics rotation in January and I loved it. I had a great preceptor, it was a good practice, and I liked all of the staff. Compared to my cardiology rotation, I wasn’t pimped as much and my preceptor was very nice, accepting, and I felt like she respected me and appreciated me. I think every day she told me thank you (even though it should be the other way around).

I loved how there was a combination of healthy well visits and sick visits and it was refreshing to witness the number of caring, loving parents who are genuinely interested in the welfare of their children (there were still many apparent bad parenting instances, but I particularly loved seeing new parents at the newborn visit). We did some newborn checks at the hospital and if I were to have a baby in Omaha, I think I’ve decided where I’d like it to be at because the facility is sooo nice.

Kids are just adorable (well, most of the time). They say all kinds of cute stuff when they come to the doctor. My favorite is "My ears don't work".

Sometimes I wonder if I like pediatrics because, well, I’m feeling so child-deprived. Yet I would occasionally have bittersweet moments: excited about parenthood but saddened by the reality that I won’t be able to be a stay-at-home or even part-time working mom for a number of years. It was sad to see the working mom bringing in their child and not knowing the answers to the questions I asked about their child because he’s in daycare all day and she hardly sees him.

Although I loved pediatrics, there are a few reasons that I didn’t like it:
-Ears. Looking in the ears is essential because ear infections are so common, but I don’t really enjoy making the patient upset. I got better at firmly holding the head to get a good look, but this is the one part I didn’t like
-Crying. Between all of the partners, there is always at least one child getting shots = crying all day.
-Stitches. An adult stays calm because they know that the stitches are going to help close the wound and reduce scarring. A child, on the other hand, thinks that this is a form of torture and does a lot of wailing, kicking, and moving around (even if we numbed it up). This makes putting in stitches and keeping a sterile field crazy hard.

None of the above are reasons that would keep me from going into pediatrics; my primary hesitation about doing pediatrics lies in being at work all day. Will I have enough patience to deal with a crying child at home after hearing crying all day at work? Will seeing kids all of the time break my heart as I long to be at home? Whenever I thought about the prospect of seeing other people’s kids instead of being able to be with my own made me feel sick and anxious.

These are a few things I wished parents would know:
-A fever is 100.4 degrees. Low-grade fevers can occur with teething
-Don’t bring your child in the first day he has a cough or a fever (unless he looks deathly). It is impossible to know what the diagnosis is with so little history. If your child does look deathly ill, you should bring him in.
-The mucous of a cold progresses like this: days 0-3 clear, 4-7 yellow (from the white blood cells coming to the area to fight off infection), 7-10 starts to clear up. Yellow mucous does not mean it is bacterial!
-It is impossible to run a diagnostic test that confirms a concussion (no MRI or CT will show it). Watch for abnormal pupils, loss of consciousness, or vomiting if your child hit their head on something.
[There is much more, but I seem to have forgotten the other tips I would offer parents.]