Imagining Pediatrics

This meditation on practice chronicles a pediatrician's defensive stance, dissects his relations with mothers, considers attractions and limitations of the daily run and reflects on broadening its range. "How to" commentaries evaluate periodic checkups, examine strategies of advising face-to-face and by phone, gauge grandiose fixes for the nation's health, and sift homespun benefits of neighborly networking. Portrayed initially as cool and cagey, he eventually comes to terms with rituals, hookers, and demands of practice and concedes that the role of practitioner is worthwhile. Separate chapters review a physician's formative experiences in medical school and internship as generating a cautious personality, touch on concepts of an ideal physician, speculate on the specter of retribution for oversights or errors, and question whether a pediatrician substantially influences a child's social integration or learning. Given a pediatrician's usual tilt toward running routine checkups and soothing transitory ailments in infants and small children, the text views skeptically the practicality of his playing a substantial role in integrating medical services for children generally. He treats small and he dreams small.