Recent content by Stitch

I also just finished the moca cycle. I didn’t prepare either and passed. The questions are generally reasonable with good focus on guidelines and general practice (definitely a few stupidly sub specialty driven ones that you’ll get wrong). They are also open book with a five minute window to...

One of my first jobs out of residency (before I did a fellowship) was a pediatrician in a small hospital. I had to attend deliveries and help out the ED from time to time. It was pretty apparent that even as a brand new grad, I was the most qualified person in the building to take care of a kid...

These are defintiely short sighted changes and will result in NP/PA replacement along with attendings who have a much narrower scope of expertise. I already see too many new attendings who are afraid of retractions instead of understanding pediatric respiratory physiology. Taking care of sick...

Agree with the others above. You'll get plenty in fellowship and probably an opportunity to go to the OR for airways as well. I also wouldn't feel bad about speaking up and saying "I want to do this," especially first year.

I can only comment on the first part here, people will be very understanding of military service and obligations. I practiced for three years after residency before doing fellowship and that was also fine (I would argue it was beneficial since I got confident in myself and knowledge). I think I...

I agree with OBP as usual. :) I'm PICU but I think it's important for NICU fellows to have good exposure/experience with both cardiac patients and ECMO. It's best to see and manage as much as possible because that will enable you to take any job out there. Specifically I would ask whether ECMO...

I disagree with Spurs slightly here. It's true that many med/peds end up eventually picking one or the other, but I definitely feel that your pediatric training will be much more extensive and better in med/peds than FM. This will give you a lot of options moving forward. That said, focus on...

Wow that’s amazing. Kids heal like gangbusters. I had a teenager who was literally hit by a train, severe TBI, in DI with almost no neuro exam. Told the family the prognosis. One parent wanted to withdraw, the other didn’t. Kid left with Trach and went to rehab. Literally walked in a year later...

No reason to do this. Very easy to perf or shear a small vessel and then be unable to control. You’ll get away with it until you don’t. As noted you don’t crash onto vv and a good system can cannulate quickly enough with proper monitoring and planning. I’ll stick with central lines, dialysis...

I'm married to a fellowship trained CAP. The fellowships are not at all competitive. Something like only half fill on any given year. I wouldn't worry about a specific project, just stay involved, maybe consider attending a conference with your mentor if they are going. The key to any fellowship...

In addition to the above, I would include cardiac exposure. In many places cardiac ICUs are run by cardiologists and cardiology fellows. It's a different approach and you will learn a lot, but I do think having PICU fellows primarily running the cardiac kids is better learning for you. You can...

As they should. It prevents a lot of forms of cancer and it's also extremely safe. A ton of misinformation surrounds HPV vaccine and always has. It's unfortunate.

All spacing out does is make the child susceptible to preventable diseases. There is no benefit. Take fever to mean that the immune system is doing it's job and remember that fever isn't harmful in any way. Bob Sears designed a spaced out schedule, but there is absolutely no science or benefit...

Agree with everything above. Also think about what is the daily bread and butter of PICU vs NICU. Deliveries and premie babies with feeder/grower population makes up a lot of NICU. It's more long term care to get these babies home, and along with that comes social issues. PICU is generally...

It's hard to get a full picture from an internet post but there are some guidelines from the AAP and the AAFP. As parents we aren't always objective (myself included!) so your best route is to see your pediatrician who can most thoroughly evaluate your child's needs. At least yearly check ups...