Med-Peds

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Med-Peds, short for internal medicine-pediatrics, is a medical specialty. Doctors train to be board certified in both internal medicine and pediatrics. The residency lasts four years, longer than the three years for internal medicine or pediatrics alone. After finishing, a med-peds physician can practice internal medicine, pediatrics, or pursue fellowships to specialize further.

Combined med-peds programs began in 1967, with roots going back to a 1949 rotating internship. The field started to give broad primary care training, and today the curriculum also prepares doctors for hospital care and subspecialties.

Med-peds training combines both fields into one program because many diseases and treatments cross from children to adults. The curriculum is a true combined program, not just two trainings put together. Residents should not spend more than six consecutive months on a single service. Training includes time in the emergency department, critical care, geriatrics, neonatal intensive care, adolescent medicine, and research, plus at least four adult and four pediatric subspecialties (including cardiology and neurology). At least one-third of training is inpatients and one-third is outpatient care.

Med-peds physicians are heavily prepared for primary care. After residency, about 61% go into primary care, 18% enter subspecialties, and 17% work in hospital medicine. Popular subspecialties include Infectious Disease, Critical Care, Allergy/Immunology, and Endocrinology.

Med-peds and family medicine doctors see similar patient groups from newborns to older adults. Med-peds physicians tend to score higher on licensing exams. Family medicine residencies are three years, while med-peds is four. Med-peds trains more for complex diseases and provides balanced training in adults and children; family medicine spends more time with adults and typically has less pediatrics.

Med-peds prepares doctors for private practice, academic medicine, hospitalist roles, and fellowships. More med-peds physicians are now treating inpatients, working in hospitals rather than only in outpatient clinics.