Pediatricians, General
Diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases and injuries in children. May refer patients to specialists for further diagnosis or treatment, as needed.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Science
- Active Learning
Key knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Therapy and Counseling
- Biology
- Psychology
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Examine patients or order, perform, and interpret diagnostic tests to obtain information on medical condition and determine diagnosis.
- Examine children regularly to assess their growth and development.
- Prescribe or administer treatment, therapy, medication, vaccination, and other specialized medical care to treat or prevent illness, disease, or injury in infants and children.
- Collect, record, and maintain patient information, such as medical history, reports, or examination results.
- Advise patients, parents or guardians, and community members concerning diet, activity, hygiene, and disease prevention.
- Treat children who have minor illnesses, acute and chronic health problems, and growth and development concerns.
- Explain procedures and discuss test results or prescribed treatments with patients and parents or guardians.
- Monitor patients' conditions and progress and reevaluate treatments as necessary.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Doctoral Training (78.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (79.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (31.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Pediatricians, General is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 95% of occupations compared | 95% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 63% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 99% of occupations compared | 92% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 96% of occupations compared | 85% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 91% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 72% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 89% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 76% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 4.63%
- Constant contact with others: 95.37%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 16.92%
- Fairly important: 1.49%
- Important: 15.34%
- Very important: 22.11%
- Extremely important: 44.15%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.86%
- Very important: 6.77%
- Extremely important: 92.37%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 0.63%
- Some freedom: 14.04%
- A lot of freedom: 85.33%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 14.77%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 18.21%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 26.67%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.54%
- Every day: 21.8%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 3.87%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.23%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 68.02%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 15.3%
- Every day: 7.59%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.5%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.97%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 16.45%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 32.74%
- Fairly serious: 0%
- Serious: 0%
- Very serious: 4.6%
- Extremely serious: 62.67%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 29-1221.00 · SOC 29-1221 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8