Study Pediatrics

What is Pediatrics?

Pediatrics is the branch of medicine that concerns the healthcare of infants, children, and adolescents. Children are susceptible to a number of diseases and their development needs to be carefully monitored to ensure they are growing as they should be. It’s also essential that children are treated in a manner that is suitable for their age and weight.

Pediatric medicine encompasses babies through to teens and in the beginning, will include a full immunization program for diseases such as mumps, rubella, and measles. Pediatricians might diagnose a range of things from ADHD and Autism to Scoliosis and childhood cancers including Leukemias.

Pediatricians are in a unique position in that they need to not just liaise with a patient but parents too, explaining the diagnosis and treatment options in different terminology to each.

Careers in Pediatrics

To become a pediatrician you’ll need to take a three or four-year premed course and on completion, you’ll need to pass the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Four years of medical school follow during which you'll take general medical courses and modules and rotations in pediatrics. Finally, there’s a minimum three-year residency to complete before obtaining licensure to practice.

If you want to become a pediatric nurse or a pediatric nurse practitioner you’ll need to complete a four-year nursing degree and become an RGN. You can then take a Master's of Science (MSN) which takes two to three years whilst practicing as a nurse gaining experience with children.

The appeal of pediatrics is obviously that your patients are kids who are at the very least cuter than adults. Helping a sick child regain their health after a long-term illness is exceptionally rewarding. Pediatrics does present diagnostic issues to overcome, in that, a baby or toddler can no more tell you their symptoms than a sick dog can tell a vet. With that considered, pediatricians learn and create inventive ways to communicate with sick kids and brighten up their day.

Not just is this a particularly rewarding area of medicine but pay for those in pediatric medicine is also very competitive - pediatricians earn in excess of $193,000. The median salary of a pediatric nurse is $66,000 whilst the median salary of a pediatric nurse practitioner is in excess of $103,000.  

If you think you have what it takes to enter pediatric medicine then take a little time to visit The American Academy of Pediatrics or The American Board of Pediatrics. You can also take a moment to watch this video which features a crazy day in the life of pediatrician Dr. Paul.  

Learning Pediatrics

Whether you’re studying to become a doctor, nurse, or a nurse practitioner there is a vast amount of medical and scientific knowledge you’ll need to commit to memory.

There’s also a good chance you will be working clinical rotations whilst you study, so allocating your time and studying effectively, is key.

Brainscape has proven to be a game-changing tool for all types of medical students. Brainscape will allow you to cement key foundational medical knowledge in record time and focus on delivering excellence in practice.

Pediatrics in Brainscape

There are thousands of flashcards dedicated to Pediatrics in Brainscape. If you’re learning pediatrics you might also find other pages such as endocrinology,  immunology, embryology, hematology, oncology, genetics, and cardiology, helpful.

If you need to improve your scores for nursing or medical college then take a look at the AP Biology and AP Chemistry study guides in Brainscape which are helping thousands of students to ace their exams. There’s also the best MCAT study guide available if you need to get great scores to get into med school.

If you’d prefer to make your own flashcards for your pediatrics class then the Brainscape software is free and easy to use. You can write your own notecards or import data, then it’s up to you if you’d like to share your cards with other learners or keep them for your personal use.

Learn faster with Brainscape

Brainscape’s unique learning system known as Confidence-Based Repetition or CBR is exciting news for learners and in particular medical students. Thousands of doctors attribute Brainscape as being key in achieving their MCAT scores and helping them study through medical school.

The CBR system allows students to learn twice as fast and remember longer with its unique method of incorporating three proven learning methods: active recall, spaced repetition, and metacognition.

The first method active recall is the process of recalling information rather than simply recognizing it. In Brainscape you will see that the answers are not easily recognized and you’ll have to work hard to retrieve the information. When you do so the neural pathways are strengthened and the next time you try to retrieve the same information, it will be easier to retrieve.  

Brainscape also incorporates spaced repetition a scientifically proven effective learning method. The flashcard format of showing bite-sized pieces of information at spaced intervals is user-friendly and effective.  

What makes Brainscape unique is its use of metacognition which fuels the algorithm. Each time you review a flashcard in Brainscape you will be asked to rate your understanding of the content from 1-5. The act of considering your understanding strengthens your memory trace but the information also allows the Brainscape to perfectly place the card back in the pack. If you rated the flashcard as a “1” the algorithm will know to show you the card again shortly. Conversely, if you rated the card a “5” the card will only be shown to recap infrequently. The way of shuffling the cards using this information means you will never waste a moment of study time.

With traditional learning and other computer-aided learning tools you always waste time going over content you already know.

Brainscape is the tool that thousands of doctors and nurses are using to get through med school and nursing college.  

How to get started

Getting started with Brainscape is easy.

Simply browse the decks below and you’ll see topics from Neuroblastoma, Developmental Milestones, Respirology, Infectious Diseases, Prenatal Infections, to Newborn Exam. Just click on one and get started now.  

Alternatively, if you’d like to use your coursework to make flashcards and learn the Brainscape way, you can click on “make flashcards” at the top of the page and start creating your own personal learning catalog, today.

Brainscape is excited to deliver students the best educational tools available on the market. The Brainscape team wishes you all the very best in your Pediatric studies and career.