This page is for those exploring, applying to or already in this sub-specialty training programme! We have insights from current specialists on what it's like working in paediatric respiratory, opportunities to try out the sub-specialty and links to relevant group(s) and other contacts.
Each sub-specialty has its own syllabus as part of Progress+ which you can download from this page, plus get details of the College Specialty Advisory Committee (CSAC) managing this sub-specialty.
1. What makes a respiratory paediatrician?
Respiratory paediatricians are skilled in providing holistic care to manage respiratory health and ill-health in infants, children and young people. At a tertiary level, they have highly specialised skills to manage complex acute and chronic conditions including difficult-to-treat asthma, cystic fibrosis, complicated lung infections and rare lung disease. They have expertise in technical skills including flexible bronchoscopy, care of technology-dependent children and sleep study interpretation.
Respiratory paediatricians deal with challenging problems of diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainty in their field of medicine. In doing so, they interact with and support many medical (PICU, neonatology, oncology, rheumatology, endocrinology, cardiology, neurology) and surgical specialties (paediatric surgery, ear, nose and throat (ENT), orthopaedics and spinal as well as cleft/ craniofacial surgery) to improve outcomes in children with respiratory diseases in acute and chronic settings. They have a significant interest in patient responsibility and hold clinics in a variety of settings, including sharing care within clinical care networks. They advocate on public health issues at the individual, local and national level to promote lung health.
2. A day in the life of a respiratory paediatrician
Day to day work provides an excellent blend of managing acute and long term conditions. Covering the inpatient service provides a huge variety of clinical experience. This might range from evaluating a baby on the intensive care unit for airway malacia with a bronchoscopy, adjusting ventilator settings for children being established on long term ventilation and reviewing children who have presented with a deterioration in their asthma control.
The respiratory team are often asked to review children under other specialties such as oncology, neonatology, cardiology and neurology. Many outpatient clinics are specialised and clinicians work as part of multiprofessional teams. These include cystic fibrosis, sleep, primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and ventilation services. In between the clinical work there are lots of opportunities to attend educational clinical meetings. In addition, there are opportunities to undertake clinical research.
Most consultant posts operate a consultant of the week rota offering daytime cover for respiratory patients during the week. Weekend ward rounds are often delivered as part of this rota. Most rotas are somewhere between 1:4 and 1:6. Out of hours work beyond this is fairly minimal enabling a healthy work/life balance.
3. How and where to experience paediatric respiratory in your early medical career
There are lots of opportunities to experience paediatric respiratory medicine. In secondary care, this might include attending outreach clinics with visiting tertiary respiratory paediatricians. In tertiary care, if opportunity arises to work within the specialist respiratory team, this will give you an excellent exposure to the wide range of respiratory conditions. Attending different tertiary respiratory clinics would also provide a good experience; otherwise there are many other specialties which will give you relevant experience including paediatric intensive care, allergy, infectious disease, neonatology or neurodisability.
4. Applying to a paediatric respiratory programme
Obtaining some relevant clinical experience will really help you with your application. It will also help you get a good idea about whether this is a career you would like to pursue. Having a good understanding of current research in this area is also important. Additionally spending time working in multidisciplinary teams is important as this is a key part of working as a respiratory paediatrician.
5. Information for paediatric respiratory trainees
The best place to find information if you are a paediatric respiratory medicine trainee is the British Paediatric Respiratory Society (BPRS) website (see External links below)
External links
To find out more about paediatric respiratory, the CSAC recommend the following websites as useful resources: