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Paediatrician Job Description
Children’s developing bodies need a different kind of care to adults. Paediatric doctors look after the health of the youngest members of society, whether they’ve had an accident or are seriously unwell. Paediatrics is a diverse and exciting field that offers lots of opportunities for you to build a rewarding career that fits your lifestyle.
You’ll find both temporary and permanent paediatric jobs with Medacs. No matter what your specialty is, or where you’d like to work, you can explore lots of positions with us.
Being a paediatric doctor
Paediatric doctors help to treat and manage a wide range of health conditions that affect infants, children and teenagers, including conditions such as:
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis
- Viral and bacterial infections like meningitis
- Intellectual and physical disabilities
- Accidental injuries
- Mental health problems
A paediatric doctor job description is wide and varied, and your day-to-day responsibilities will change based on your specialism, the healthcare setting you work in and your level of experience. You will work with children of every age, from babies to teenagers, to ensure they are as happy and healthy as possible. Depending on your specific role, your responsibilities include:
- Outpatient consultations
- Running clinics for long-term health conditions
- Offering clinical advice to external agencies, including social services and education providers
- Looking after inpatient children
- Working round the clock in Accidents and Emergencies (A&E) to treat seriously unwell children
There are lots of settings where paediatric doctors can practise, and Medacs has opportunities to suit everyone within both the NHS and the private sector. You can choose to be a general paediatric doctor or an A&E paediatrician, meaning you are the first one to review unwell children and can refer them on to specialists, if appropriate. Alternatively, you could choose a specialism, such as endocrinology or genetic diseases, where you’ll prescribe treatments, offer advice and carry out procedures to improve the health of children with lifelong conditions.
Qualifications for paediatric doctor roles
Before applying for paediatric jobs, you will need to obtain an undergraduate degree in medicine and achieve an MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) or equivalent qualification at medical school. Following this, you’ll need to complete a two-year foundation programme, which will involve rotations in specialties like paediatrics.
Next, you’ll begin your specialist training (ST1). To progress beyond ST3, you’ll need to complete your Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Foundation of Practice (FOP), while ST4 and above require full membership (MRCPCH).
Key skills for a paediatric doctor role
In addition to your essential qualifications, you’ll also need a number of important skills and qualities to succeed in paediatric jobs. These include:
- Excellent communication skills
- Being able to work towards becoming a great diagnostician, as children and infants are not always able to describe their symptoms
- Genuinely enjoying working with children and their families
- Emotional resilience
- Patience and sensitivity
- A good sense of humour and bedside manner
Where can paediatric doctor roles take you?
As paediatrics training covers all areas of child health, there’s lots of scope for you to become a specialist in particular areas you feel drawn to. These include:
- Child mental health
- Community child health
- Neonatal medicine
- Paediatric allergy, immunology and infectious diseases
- Paediatric intensive care
- Paediatric oncology
What’s next for your career?
Discover your next paediatric doctor role in the UK through Medacs, where you can view and apply for jobs that suit your aspirations. We have positions to suit doctors at every stage of their career, whether you’re just starting out or have decades of experience.
You’ll remain in complete control of your work/life balance; simply tell us when, where and how often you’d like to work and your dedicated consultant will handle the rest. We also work across every NHS framework, allowing you to access a vast range of paediatric job opportunities.
Medacs can also help you arrange free or discounted appraisals and you’ll be able to access our specialist Revalidation team who can guide you through the entire process. And if you’d like to try out career opportunities in a new area, we can help you identify places that will help you grow.
Moving to the UK
There’s a lot to think about when moving to the UK for work. At Medacs, we can help paediatric doctors find jobs in the UK and help to make the process of moving simple. You can find out more details on our Moving to the UK page.