Career Exploration On Becoming A Pediatrician

Choosing a career for a lifetime is one of the most difficult decisions in life. The career paths that an individual chooses can turn into a success or a failure. Therefore it is really important to think about what the goals to achieve and why. But sometimes life happens and things do not go as planned, therefore we have to take a leap of faith and risks. In the past, I have considered many career paths such as social worker, pediatrician, school counselor, child psychologist, and nutritionist. Every career that I was leaning towards to involved children. Working with children offers opportunities to help them advance, develop, and learn, which are the things I love doing.

I love working with children and the path that stood out to me the most is being a pediatrician. I first started working with children in my sophomore year in High School in 2011 when my then neighbor asked me to watch her child for her and that she would pay me. Since then, my passion grew and I have worked with children for almost 8 years. I babysat, worked in a pre-K as an assistant, and currently working as a nanny. I’m interested in childhood development, their behaviors, and their characteristics, and mostly how to treat them. I am also interested in the medical field, with my love for chemistry and biology, which goes more in-depth into their health, treatment, and recovery.

After completing the career module, I found out a lot about myself. As of now, the career path that I want is to be in the medical field. Based on my results on the interest profiler, pediatrician was listed as a career. My scores were as such; 33 for investigative, 14 for social, 11 for enterprising, 11 for conventional, 11 for artistic and 2 for realistic. My score for investigative is really high compared to the others which are not surprising to me because I like to ask questions, investigate, and challenge myself.

I found out that I also like to find solutions to difficult problems. For social, my score might depict my love for interacting with children, learning about them, as well as helping them. I am currently a child care provider/nanny, therefore social fits right in. For me, conventional equals perfection, as I am a perfectionist, because I like to pay attention to details and follow clear set procedures, routines, and rules. For artistic, I am creative, like to draw, and used to play the violin, so that can explain my score.

There are also two more tests that I took based on personalities. The first one is the Human Metrics Jung Typology Test. I found out that my type is ENFJ, which stands for Extraverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, and Judging. I am 16 percent extravert, 50 percent intuitive, 41 percent feeling, and 25 percent judging. What really amazed me was that the results of the previous test matches with the results of the second personality test, which is called 16 personalities, created by Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers. My type is also ENFJ-A, and A stands for Assertive. This means that I am self-assured, even-tempered, and resistant to stress. Mind:61 percent extravert, energy: 62 percent intuitive, nature: 29 percent thinking, tactics: 67 percent judging, and identity: 53 percent assertive. Therefore that goes to show that my decisions are firmly decided and that I am one of the benevolent pedagogues of humanity.

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The primary responsibilities of pediatricians are to examine children regularly, treat their minor illnesses, acute and chronic health problems, and make sure that they are growing and developing. Pediatricians provide health care for children from birth until they are teenagers. Pediatricians mend children’s broken bones, treat asthma, administer vaccinations, treat chickenpox and take countless calls from in the middle of the night from distraught parents who are worried about their children’s health.

The journey to become a pediatrician takes at least nine years to complete. A bachelor’s degree is required followed by a medical degree and then completion of a residency program. During summer after junior of college, a student must take the MCAT if she or he is not taking year. If the student is not a gap year, then the MCAT should be taken during late spring or early summer of senior year of college. MCAT stands for Medical College Admission Test, which confirms the mastery of the knowledge acquired from the required prerequisite courses taken during bachelor. As for choosing a major, a student does not have to major in biology or chemistry. In the article “Premed 101: How to Get Into Medical School” Medical School headquarters website states that a student can major in any subject and still get into medical school. He points out that only 63% of students accepted to medical school majored in the physical and biological sciences in college. Therefore a student can choose the thing the enjoy doing the most and take the required medical courses at the same time.

After completing the residency program, a license must be obtain from the state in which an individual plan to practice medicine. In order to obtain the license, a medical student graduate must pass the National Medical Licensing Examination(NMLE). In the article “Obtaining a Medical License” AMA website(1995-2019) states that The process of obtaining a medical license can be challenging and time consuming. It also states that physicians seeking initial licensure or applying for a medical license in another state experience delays due to the investigation of credentials and past practice as well as the need to comply with licensing standards. The skills required are listening, not interrupting, asking questions, problem solving, and being good with people and technology.

After accepting a position as a general pediatrician, there are a lot of things to consider such as working conditions, work schedule, salary and benefits, training availability, and opportunity for advancement. Pediatricians have a lot on their plate, hence they need to be organized. The work conditions can be really stressful which can lead to anxiety, fear, and exhaustion, and sometimes guilt.

There are a lot of issues that may surface for a student in a path of becoming a doctor and also when that student becomes one.