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1. What makes a general paediatrician?

General paediatricians manage children from birth to late adolescence with problems ranging from acute, life-threatening illnesses to long term conditions. They work with families to advocate for the health and well-being of all children and their place within wider healthcare settings and services.

General paediatricians are experts in the investigation and diagnosis of children with non-specific symptoms and signs. They initiate treatment which may be delivered and continued by themselves or by another person or team according to the needs of the child. General paediatricians also collaborate with other professionals and agencies to deliver optimal care. They step in and oversee individual, tailored care whenever appropriate.

General paediatrics is a flexible speciality with continued opportunities for career development. The breadth and depth of these opportunities reflect the variety in the working life of all paediatricians, with opportunities in research, education and development of expertise in speciality paediatrics.  As a result, general paediatricians have a wide variety of skills and knowledge allowing them to provide holistic, child-centred care across the full range of paediatric subspecialties.

General paediatrics is a fantastically rewarding career, full of variety and interest where no two days and no two jobs are the same!  We care for children from birth to late adolescents with a wide range of acute and chronic presentations and work closely with colleagues across primary, secondary and tertiary settings to provide the best possible care for our patients.

Dr Fiona Hignett, General Paediatrician in Poole

2. A day in the life of a general paediatrician

Several consultant paediatricians told us why they love being generalists in this video.

3. How and where to experience general paediatrics in your early medical career

There are numerous opportunities available to those early on in their medical career seeking out experiences in general paediatrics.  See below for a few tips and ideas.

Medical students

• Explore paediatric-related placements/projects for your student selected component or elective.
• Join your medical school’s paediatric society – many are affiliated to schemes getting medical students teaching first aid or life support to families.
• Seek out children and young people to see during non-paediatric placements e.g. general surgery, orthopaedics, primary care, emergency medicine, ENT.
• Sign up to the UK Aspiring Paediatricians (UKAPS) mailing list to get updates about their events and campaigns: https://ukaps.home.blog/about-ukaps/.
• Have a look at the national undergraduate child health curriculum to get an idea of the expected capabilities for medical students in child health     
• Consider applying for free medical student membership to the RCPCH – with benefits of careers advice, quarterly milestones magazine and reduced fees for RCPCH conference, courses & events.

Foundation doctors

• Consider a taster week in paediatrics – this could include time spent in the emergency department, on acute and ambulatory paediatric wards and in clinic as well as community paediatrics.
• Take opportunities to assess children and young people during other rotations e.g. primary care, orthopaedics, emergency medicine, general surgery and ENT.
• Look out for opportunities locally to attend paediatric-related courses such as Paediatric Immediate Life Support and Level 2 child safeguarding training.
• Contact the local paediatric trainees and consultants to ask if you could be a part of an audit or quality improvement (QI) project within the department.
• Consider applying for free foundation doctor membership to the RCPCH – with benefits of careers advice, quarterly milestones magazine and reduced fees for RCPCH conference, courses & events.

Core Paediatric Trainees

• General paediatrics will likely be a significant portion of your core paediatric training – your educational/clinical supervisor should hopefully be a wealth of knowledge to help you navigate and seek out learning opportunities, this might include:
  • Local general and community paediatric clinics
  • Spending time with allied professionals such as health visitors and CAMHS & public health colleagues
• Consider opportunities to help develop and deliver paediatric teaching sessions to medical students and foundation doctors.
• Undertake Progress+ essential courses such as NLS, APLS/EPALS and level 3 child protection training in preparation for speciality general paediatrics training.
• Support QI and patient safety initiatives in your placements.
• Contact your local RCPCH Trainee Committee regional reps for ideas and inspiration and consider applying to be a rep or get involved in college work
• Take part in courses and conferences that interest you – can be a helpful central database for events across the UK.

4. Information for general paediatric trainees

Speciality general paediatric training is a time for you to consolidate the learning and experiences you have had in core training, and to develop your leadership and management skills.  As well as maintaining interest in general paediatrics like you did in core paediatrics, the below tips and ideas might be helpful as you approach the end of training:

• Contact your local RCPCH Trainee Committee regional reps for ideas and inspiration and consider taking part in college work
• Take part in courses and conferences that interest you – As noted above,Ìý can be a helpful central database for events across the UK.  
• Pay particular attention to developing your leadership and management skills, this might include:
  • Leading QI, research or teaching programmes in your placements.
  • Taking an active role in understanding patient safety mechanisms in your trust and supporting risk and morbidity & mortality meetings.
  • Undertaking specific leadership and management training.
• Discuss career aspirations with your educational supervisor and training programme director/Head of School as they can help facilitate appropriate training opportunities for you, eg time in sub-specialty ytraining areas, or supporting OOP time.
• Consider joining the .
• Consider joining and taking part in .
• Keep your CV up to date (including dates and durations of each rotational placement) to save time when you come to applying for consultant or associate specialist jobs.

For further help, information or support please contact our Training Quality Board general paediatric representatives:

Dr Hannah Jacob: hannahjacob@nhs.net,ÌýDr Fiona Hignett: fiona.hignett@gmail.com

Or follow them on X: @HannahCJacob, @FionaHignett

External links

To find out more about general paediatrics, the general paediatric representatives recommend the following website as useful resource: