Pediatrician

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Work Tasks

• Provide medical care for children from birth through age 21
• Examine patients to find disease or injury
• Advise treatment and counsel patients and their parents
• Do check-ups to make sure children are growing correctly and give vaccinations to prevent diseases
• Work in offices in private practice, and for hospitals, healthcare centers, clinics, health maintenance organizations, the government, and the military
• Work with medical instruments, medication, vaccines, blood tests, diagnostics, patient records, professional journals, reports, etc.

Salary, Size & Growth

• $192,000 average per year ($92.25 per hour)
• A medium occupation (30,100 workers in 2010)
• Expected to grow rapidly (2.2% per year)

Education/Training

• Minimum for Entry: A 4-year degree, including 4 years of undergraduate school, 4 years of medical school, and 3 to 8 years of internship and residency, depending on the specialty selected
• Skills/Courses: Premedical students must complete college undergraduate work in physics, biology, math, English, inorganic and organic chemistry, and the humanities and the social sciences.
• Certification/Licensing: All states require physicians to be licensed and board certified.