Pediatrician's with children vs. Peds. without

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  1. Do you think a Pediatrician is "better" if they have their own children?

    • 8
      Yes, most definately. They can then imagine how you feel as a parent.
    • 5
      I would think that it might make a difference.
    • 4
      I'm not really sure that it makes much of a difference.
    • 11
      No. It's only important that they care about kids.

28 members have participated

I am wondering, due to a recent Pediatrician change due to lack of caring, do you all think that a Pediatrician is a better Dr. when they have children themselves or do you think it doesn't really matter?

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Just as so many people say to me "when you have kids" :uhoh3: ...it doesn't make you better nurse/doctor if you have kids. What about the ones who can't but love kids so much they choose to work with them as a full time job? Also brings the argument of having kids/being a good parent. Just because you created life doesn't make you a great person/parent. I think it has to do with personality, and understanding. Good peds people are open minded, easy going and empathetic. Fertility has nothing to do with it. I don't mean to sound rude, but I have a hard time being a 'childless' nurse. The GREAT docs/nurses I work with are in both situations. It's their personality that makes them excellent, not their tax claim status ;)

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Just because someone either hasn't found "Mr. Right" or "Ms. Right" to get married and have kids ... and/or they knew they were not in a proper position to have kids at the moment ... or they have a fertility problem ... doesn't mean they can't be great with kids. They may care for them and have a great way of relating to them -- and may have lots of experience with kids that you don't know about. Biologically reproducing does not mean that you are better working with children or more knowledgable about childhood illnesses etc.

Using that same logic, you should only go to an oncologist who has had cancer, a brain surgeon who has had brain surgery, a psychiatrist who has had psychiatric problems, etc. No ... the idea of going to school and learning your profession is to learn the things you need to know. Your (our) practice should be based primarily on science, and we should be relying too much on whatever is happening in our own personal lives. Not that we can't learn valuable lessons from those personal events at times, but we need to validate those lessons with science -- and we can't assume that people who have had certain life experiences have necessarily learned the right lessons from those experiences.

llg -- who works in a children's hospital and has seen lots of good and bad professionals, both with their own kids and without.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ER.

I just don't think there's a connection, really. In my own personal experience, I have found that there are great pediatricians with and without children and lowsy pediatricians with and without children.

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We switched peds. to a different dr. in the same practice. I honestly don't know if she has kids or not, but she is a heck of a lot more understanding than our last one who didn't have kids. She also listens to us, which is a bonus from the last one as well. I am wondering if there will be any hard feelings, etc. since tomorrow is our first visit with the new dr.

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We switched peds. to a different dr. in the same practice. I honestly don't know if she has kids or not, but she is a heck of a lot more understanding than our last one who didn't have kids. She also listens to us, which is a bonus from the last one as well. I am wondering if there will be any hard feelings, etc. since tomorrow is our first visit with the new dr.

My first pediatrician is a wonderful man and he is brilliant medically, but there was some parenting advice he gave me with my second child that just didn't jive with what I had done with the first. And it's not like his recommendations came off as being friendly. He rubbed me the wrong way on more than one occasion, so, I felt it was time to move on. I moved my children to an office of three peds who have children of their own, and are able to make recommendations based on their knowledge, and their own experiences. As luck would have it, I started working for them a month later. I have been there four years now.

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I am wondering, due to a recent Pediatrician change due to lack of caring, do you all think that a Pediatrician is a better Dr. when they have children themselves or do you think it doesn't really matter?

Well, I've never had my gallbladder out, but have provided excellent nursing care to my pts who have.

I've never died, but I've provided wonderful care to many hospice pts. (I left hospice years ago, but still have many cards and letters from grateful pts and their families).

I'm currently a hemodialysis nurse, and in training to be a peritoneal dialysis nurse educator.

My kidneys are healthy....you get my drift, I'm sure. :wink2:

Caring is in the individual. I don't think a ped having kids or not would affect that.

I have a good friend who is a wonderful NICU and high-risk OB nurse. She doesn't have any children, but she keeps this fact from hers pts, as she's found they tend to lose confidence in her when they find out she is not a mother.

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Our pediatrician isn't actually a ped at all - but a family practice doctor (who way back in med school/residency did a special study in the area of geriatrics)! We love him, though - and he's great with the kids! :)

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