ABOUT PAEDIATRICS & CHILD HEALTH

Paediatrics and Child Health is the specialty that deals with diseases and disorders of growth and development from the newborn period to young adulthood. Most paediatricians in New Zealand are generalists but there are opportunities to subspecialise. Advanced training is offered in areas that include general paediatrics, cardiology, child and adolescent psychiatry, clinical genetics, clinical haematology and oncology, haematology, community child health, emergency medicine, endocrinology, gastroenterology and hepatology, immunology and allergy, infectious diseases, intensive care, neonatal and perinatal medicine, nephrology, neurology, palliative medicine, rheumatology, and thoracic and sleep medicine.

The role of the paediatrician is complex, since the work involves treating patients who may not be able to make decisions regarding their own health and may not understand the necessity for treatment. For these reasons, paediatricians must establish the trust of patients as well as their caregivers. Paediatric and child health services are administered in hospitals, in outpatient clinics and in the community. Auckland has two specialist stand-alone paediatric hospitals: Starship Children’s Hospital in Grafton, and KidzFirstTM Children’s Hospital in Otahuhu. There is also the Rangitira Unit at Waitakere Hospital.