Paediatricians
Job description
These individuals provide children and adolescents with urgent care coverage or consultation. This care includes, among others, paediatric and neonatal emergencies, infectious problems, and poisoning. They prevent, detect, and treat patients’ illnesses. For example, they are involved in the care of paediatric patients suffering from diabetes or cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. They are involved with children living in difficult situations (child protection, separation of parents, etc.). These individuals work in:
- Clinical research centres
- Hospitals
- Private medical clinics
- Government control laboratories
- Private medical laboratories
Environment
- Controlled ambient temperature
- Equipment, machinery, tools
- Biological agents
Main tasks
- Provide care to paediatric patients suffering from complex pathologies (diabetes, cystic fibrosis, asthma, learning disabilities, etc.).
- Get involved with children living in difficult situations (child protection, sexual abuse, socio-legal problems, etc.).
- Participate in prevention and training programs.
- Provide paediatric education to paediatric residents and all medical students at the pre- and postgraduate levels.
- Participate, as required, in paediatric teaching and research.
- Order examinations (lab tests, X-rays, etc.).
- Prescribe medications, treatments, and surgery.
- Act as a consultant to other physicians.
- Participate in prevention and training programs.
Advancement and mobility
- Experience leads to management positions.
- Paediatricians may work in the following specialties
- Infectious diseases
- Clinical Pharmacology
- Intensive care
- Emergency
- Allergy-immunology
- Cardiology
- Dermatology
- Endocrinology
- Gastroenterology
- Genetics
- Hematology-oncology
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Pneumology
- Rheumatology
Training and requirements
Formation
Most training programs are offered in French only.
University
Medicine
Also required
- Permit to practise issued by the Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ [Quebec College of Physicians]).
- At least four years of residency in paediatrics.
Sometimes required
- Additional postgraduate training for paediatric subspecialties.
Main skills and characteristics
Skills
- Data collection
- Active listening
- Critical thought
- Oral expression
- Judgment and decision-making
- Reading comprehension
- Social perception
- Science
- Active learning
- Result evaluation
- Written expression
- Solving complex problems
- Service oriented
- Information processing
- Coordination
- Teaching
- Time management
- Learning strategies
- System analysis
- Persuasion
- Operation analysis
- Human resource management
Abilities
- Oral comprehension
- Verbal skills
- Inductive reasoning
- Awareness of issues
- Speech clarity
- Deductive reasoning
- Written comprehension
- Written expression
- Speech recognition
- Near vision
- Information organization
- Processing flexibility
- Selective attention
- Classification
- Idea generation
- Originality
- Information processing speed
Knowledge and attributes
- Critical thinking
- Autonomy
- Sense of responsibility
- Spoken and written bilingualism (French and English)
- Capacity to work in a team
- Rigour
- Tolerance to stress
- Respect standards and regulations
- Sense of observation
- Knowledge of medicine or dentistry
Interests
- Carry out research
- Assist and advise
- Teach or educate
- Assist or care for people
Personality profiles (RIASEC)
- Investigative
- People with this profile prefer relying on theoretical knowledge before acting. They like observation, analysis and problem solving.
- Social
- People with this profile prefer to be in contact with others, in particular to entertain, help or teach them.
- Realistic
- People with this profile prefer carrying out concrete tasks and being physically involved in what they do.
Appellation d’emploi liée (à traduire)
Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (CNP 31100)
Skill type
Health
Last update: January 29, 2026