Pediatric-Neurology-Referral-Form: Fill & Download for Free

I get asked a lot if I am an General Practitioner and how is that different than Family Medicine. Years ago, physicians can graduate from medical school, complete one year of residency (known as the internship year), then start up shop and become a General Practitioner. Now it is nearly impossible. If a physician does not complete the full years of residency, they cannot set for their board exam and become board certified. It is nearly impossible to get malpractice insurance if a physician is not board eligible or board certified.Thus, Family Medicine is my specialty because I completed my internship and 2 more years of residency, total of 3 years. Family Medicine, along with Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics fall into Primary Care.Pediatricians generally see patients from when they're born until they are 18. Few will continue to see them a few years after 18 depending on their practice style. They are exposed to much more pediatric cases during their residency and spend any more months on the pediatric units including pediatric ICU and neonatal ICU.Family Medicine physicians can choose to tailor their practice to their interests but in general can see patients from when they’re born to when they die. In my training we had 2 months of inpatient pediatrics and 2 months of outpatient. We would also see children in our regular continuity clinic for the 3 years, but as you can see that is a lot less than a pediatric residency. That is also because we are spending a lot more time on the adults inpatient units.Internal Medicine physicians see patients 18 years and older. They do not see any pediatric patients.Specialty Care includes Endocrinology, Dermatology, Neurology, Urology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, Orthopedics, etc and so on. They care for their specific field of interests. Typically for the pediatric specialties, you just add the pediatric to the front of their title. IE: Pediatric Endocrinology, Pediatric Neurology, Pediatric Nephrology, etc. Not every specialty needs to have pediatric specialty as most Dermatologist can see pediatric skin diseases.A Hospitalist can be either a Family Physician or an Internal Medicine Physician.There are many routes to becoming a Specialty Physician.For example, once a physician completes a residency in internal medicine, they can go on to fellowship for Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, etc.Or from general surgery they continue on to Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Cardiothoracic Surgery etc.There are several specialties that start immediately after one year of internship and those include Neurology, Dermatology, Radiology, Ophthalmology, etc.OB/GYN is it’s own residency. Family physicians and Internal Medicine Physicians can also apply for a 2 year fellowship in OB/GYN after their residency if they realize after all that, their true passion is still OB/GYN.Podiatry is a complete separate route and they have their own schooling, residency, training and credentialing.This is why we now have a system where for a referral you would end up seeing your primary care physician first. Because a person may think “I have palpitations, I should see a physician.” When in actuality, that person has thyroid disease, that could have been diagnosed with a blood test and managed by his/her family medicine, or referred onto an endocrinologist instead.On a funny note, when rotating through a Dermatology clinic in China, I ended up seeing a lot of STDs. Because there patients still get to directly choose which specialty they want to see and in their opinion, rashes, no matter what the cause is, will be seen by Dermatology.

You set up a question that presumes something before you know it to be a fact. IF you have suspicions of dysphoria, either someone has suggested this or you’ve done some research based on your own observations. This problem is basically neurological but…it can have many disparate elements. Almost always in children, if you suspect this, any pediatrician should be able to first, assist in the diagnosis then, second, provide a referral to a doctor who specialized in pediatric neurology,But how to begin the discussion? Again, most adult, well, parents, will notice a or some various symptoms that could, individually, lead to many diseases. This becomes a bit more easy to identify as the symptoms intensify and what were not really involved issues fall away. The difficulty with children is that they do not follow any specific or logical growth or neurological patterns. Something that at birth, possibly even for the first period of life suggests one problem, may go away. IF you feel this young person is exhibiting symptoms, whether for dysphoria or potentially another problem, a neurological examination is certainly indicated although you may be the one to suggest it; Occasionally pediatricians prefer to monitor the development for a time then form an opinion. There should be no difficulty so long as you point out specific symptoms that suggest this problem.

You can do Pediatric Neurology - that would cover two for sure - and if you are interested in human psychology, it will cover the 4th one partly. A pediatric neurosurgeon is not the same as pediatric neurologist - so that won’t cover three, it will only cover two. Anyway, this is a funny question - maybe I would have asked this when I was an intern!!As for deciding which one - NO ONE can answer that for you!!I didn’t plan it, things just fell in place - and I happen to love neurology - my way of thinking matches it - I like to think like a detective (not suspicious-like, but more like the who-dunnit kind).If you are a DOER - meaning, you like to DO stuff, then don’t go for Neurology - you could be a brain surgeon or a cardiologist/gastroenterologist, etc There are many things neurologists do, but most of them are highly specialized; for example, DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation, say, for Parkinson Disease) is a field where a neurologist plays a central role in managing the patient - but not everyone gets to do it. You could be involved in an Epilepsy Surgery program and that could give you a lot of excitement - but again, that is available only in specialized centers. Or you could focus on doing intra-thecal baclofen - but not many patients for that, so again you have to sit in a tertiary referral center and be happy with the few patients who come to you. In each of the above, you may not be DOING much yourself, but you do play a central role in patient management. Another sub-specialty to be considered is Botulinum Toxin therapy - a few people have made a career around doing only that. Another is Neurophysiology - where you have a lab and a team and you do the tests - EEG, EMG, VEPs, and the rest.The basic thing is - as a neurologist - you are either a general neurologist - in which case you will not do much - or you can specialize in a sub-specialty and then you will DO a few things repeatedly.