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Paediatrician

ProfessionalsUsually a bachelor degree or higher, or long experience

What the work is

Investigates, diagnoses and treats internal diseases and disorders in children from birth, up to and including adolescence.

Would you enjoy the work?

These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.

  • Assesses, diagnoses and treats neonates, infants, children and adolescents
  • Requests laboratory tests, imaging and other diagnostic procedures, and interprets findings to assist diagnosis
  • Prescribes medications and administers treatment based on age, weight and pharmacokinetics of the patient
  • Liaises and consults with a multidisciplinary team for optimised treatment
  • Provides guidance and education to children and their families regarding medical procedures, conditions and treatment options
  • Assesses, investigates and manages paediatric care in neonatal and perinatal settings
  • Performs procedures in advanced paediatric life support

Try it

A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a hospital ward and outpatient clinic where specialist physicians see older adults. They are fictional.

The kind of days you could have

Good days

  • A puzzling set of symptoms suddenly makes sense and the right treatment starts
  • An older patient goes home to the place they love, with the right support
  • A junior doctor you teach asks a question you had not thought of

Hard days

  • Families who disagree with each other, and with the patient, about what should happen next
  • Pressure to free up a bed when the person in it is not yet ready to leave
  • Conversations about what matters most that nobody is eager to have

Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.

Work a mission

Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.

Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 264343, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.