Pediatric neurology

[heydere]

Hi,

Is anyone pursuing Pediatric-neurology? What are some of the pros and cons of this field and the residency training? Are there any procedures in the field? What are the future job prospects and renumeration in Canada?

Thanks!

[LostLamb]

It was a field I seriously considered and interviewed for a couple years ago; ultimately, I decided that my personal and professional goals would be better met through another specialty.

My understanding is that academic positions are harder to come by, but that if you wished to open a private practise you could be okay. I think the pay is less than that for other peds specialties, probably more on par with community pediatricians. Many practitioners are combo academics/clinicians, hence the focus of being in a university.

It is an extremely small and tight knit community across the country--you cross the country and mention who you've done an elective with and everyone seems to know everyone on a first name basis from having trained, trained with, or trained under the other person.

Big areas you'd deal with are epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and stroke, and of course all the neurodevelopmental disorders/syndromes. You often share patients with many other specialties (resp, genetics/metabolics, cardio, neonatology, psych).  Procedures are basically same as adult neuro, but more so LPs and reading EEGs, not so much EMG. You do become good at breaking bad news as a number of outcomes you come across are grim.

It is an academically interesting specialty, challenging as each patient is quite unique, but if you're a "fixer" and prefer certainty, it is probably not the specialty for you. There is lots of ambiguity and often apart from diagnosing and then managing chronic conditions you end up following kids until they turn 18 without having a ton to offer except moral support (not a bad thing, in my opinion--it means so much to the patient and their families and caregivers).

[medisforme]

Why is it a stand alone specialty for residency compared to other peds specialities which are all fellowships?  

[F508]

probably same reason as why adult neuro is a stand alone specialty

[Snowmen]

Neurology has absolutely nothing to do with IM hence why both are separate.