Specialty Based Tips: Pediatric Surgery

Pediatric surgery is a relatively new specialty and has evolved significantly since its inception. William Ladd is considered the father of Pediatric Surgery. He became the Surgeon In-Chief at Boston Children’s Hospital in 1927 and established the first pediatric surgery training program in 1941. Today, there are 58 training programs in the United States and Canada. Pediatric surgeons were initially trained to address all surgical problems in children. With the establishment of other pediatric surgical subspecialties including Otolaryngology, Neurosurgery, Urology, and Orthopedics, the clinical scope of practice of a pediatric surgeon has narrowed [1]. However pediatric surgery remains one of the most broad and diverse surgical specialties by treating conditions at the fetal stage into adulthood; and includes aspects of surgical oncology, vascular surgery, GI surgery, trauma surgery, and thoracic surgery.