We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jill Pedalino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jill below.
Jill, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How’d you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?
I was always a good student and by that I mean I loved going to school and learning, I loved my teachers, and I loved having homework and assignments to complete. Thankfully I was blessed with enough intelligence and drive to be able to go to college and when I graduated high school I was going to be an attorney. I didn’t know much at all about that field, I had no role models or family members who were attorneys, and I had no idea what the training even entailed, but for some reason I thought it was the appropriate career for someone who liked studying! I had spent every summer of my teenage years as a camp counselor for the local day camp because it was convenient, I got a pay check, and I loved kids, but as I completed my first year of college I felt I should search for a “real” summer job since I was going to be a distinguished and successful attorney one day. As the eighth of nine children and as someone who was pretty self-sufficient, studious, and well-rounded with seven older siblings who were all successful, I didn’t get much career or life guidance from my parents so I was more or less flying by the seat of my pants.
My decision to get a “real” job led me to a temp agency where they placed individuals in office positions. While on the phone with the woman asking me all kinds of questions to try and fit me to the right job, out of the blue I found myself asking if there happened to be an opening at a hospital. The agency representative said there was one position at the local medical center, but it was already taken. We hung up with instructions that I would wait for her call in a few days hopefully with some kind of summer job. Incredibly and inexplicably, the phone rang soon after and it was the woman from the temp agency saying she couldn’t believe it, but after we hung up the employee who had the hospital job just quit and a secretarial position in the medical staff office was available!
I spent that summer with two lovely women who had been running the medical staff office for decades. They were used to temporary employees and gave me jobs like filing documents and stuffing envelopes with generic letters to the doctors on staff. I remember looking at the envelope stuffing process and thinking I could get twice as much done in half the time if I folded a group of letters instead of just one at a time and sure enough I made fast work of my tasks. The two secretaries must have seen something I didn’t yet see in myself and one day they asked an obstetrician who was in the office signing papers if he would allow me to observe the delivery of a baby. I had no idea they would do that so I was quite surprised, however his nonchalant response gave me no real hope that he would follow through. Well, one day I was sitting alone in the cafeteria eating lunch when over the loud speaker I heard my name and that I should report to labor and delivery immediately! I ran up to the delivery suite and was given a pair of scrubs to change into. I was quickly introduced to a woman in active labor with her fourth child who gave me a glance, agreed that I could watch her baby being born, and went right back to focusing on pushing.
I tried to stay out of the way as the team of nurses and the doctor went about delivering probably their 10th baby that day like a well-oiled pit crew. The obstetrician looked back at me and said, “You are definitely not going to see anything back there so get over here.” My heart was racing and I was filled with this energy and excitement I never felt before. As I watched this amazing woman push a little being into the world I knew at that moment my life work would be dedicated to taking care of children. I changed my academic trajectory when I returned to college a month later and set my sights on medical school. So while the summer job at the hospital wasn’t exactly my first job as a pediatrician, it sure felt like quite an introduction to the field to me!
Jill, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a board certified pediatrician practicing general pediatrics in New Jersey for the past 18 years. I started off my career as an employed physician in a small independent practice in my home town. After eight years of working for someone else, in 2014 I made the bold decision to start my own solo pediatric practice. Now ten years later, I have three employed pediatricians and a full team of support staff at a very busy office caring for our community’s children from birth to 23 years old. In addition, knowing that the practice of medicine is also a business and that I never had any formal business training, I enlisted my husband to round out my team. My husband, Marcello Pedalino, is an established and very successful entrepreneur in the special events industry and the wealth of knowledge he brings to the table each day is invaluable to the success of my practice. In 2020, I decided to join forces with an established group of local pediatric practices in New Jersey and I have been a proud partner of BCD Health Partners ever since. Our group consists of ten independent pediatrician-owned general pediatric practices who collaborate to provide the most comprehensive care to each of our patients by creating a patient centered medical home with the most up to date information, technology, and best practices. Our group employs non-physician professionals to help manage human resources for our employees, manage finances to keep the group efficient and profitable, and manage billing/insurance matters to make sure we are compensated properly by the various insurance companies.
I am most proud of the way in which I have been able to balance the business side of practicing medicine with the art of taking care of children in a compassionate and intentional way. As a business owner I must focus each day on making sure my team is on point, my overhead is as low as possible, and my profit is enough to keep the lights on; at the same time, as a pediatric doctor I must focus each day on closely monitoring my patients’ development at each wellness visit, recognizing the subtle signs that may indicate disease, and supporting families as they navigate parenthood. I can only accomplish this tricky balance by maintaining a strict nutrition, sleep, exercise, and mindfulness routine each day so I can perform at my highest level. I owe it to myself and to my patients to give it my all.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
While it is critical to have a strong foundational fund of knowledge of pediatric medicine to be a competent pediatrician, the key to success is having a genuine love of children and the variety of medical conditions (and personalities!) that walk through the door every day. I have also learned over my nearly twenty-year career that you can never become complacent because that is when you fail your patients. Communication with your team and your patients is also a key aspect in achieving success in medicine. Having a health concern and, in my specific field, trying to keep a tiny newborn alive can be very confusing or even frightening for the average person. When a medical professional fails to communicate effectively to his or her patients it makes an already overwhelming situation even worse for the patient. A successful pediatrician understands that only fifty percent of what is said in an office visit is remembered by the parents so finding ways to ensure that the family leaves the visit feeling confident, heard, and informed will keep the patients satisfied and coming back. Finally, a successful pediatrician must have a sense of compassion for others and for him or herself. Although general pediatrics is largely a field of growth and development of healthy children, it definitely has its fair share of heartache, sadness, and illness and in order to survive in the field one has to develop resilience and self-compassion to be able to carry on despite poor patient outcomes.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The suburban area in which I practice pediatrics has plenty of general pediatricians from whom families can choose for their child’s care. I realized early on in my career that “mom groups” are a powerful and persuasive resource for new parents and if a pediatrician provides less than stellar care the moms will speak up and that doctor’s popularity will definitely take a hit. I believe a few key things helped me build my reputation as a solid and trustworthy pediatrician. First, I come from a large family with siblings that span a twenty-year age range so we were pretty well known in my home town and coming back to practice medicine in the same town offered me a slight edge that other brand-spanking-new doctors may not have if they start a career in a new city. When I began working I either knew some families from having babysat for them over the years, some of the parents were actually former classmates of mine, or the families knew one of my siblings or my parents. In addition, I also lived in town and frequented the same grocery stores, nail salons, and local events as the families in the practice. This connectedness to my community allowed me to build a sense of trust with my patients which is very important when you are caring for the health of children.
In addition, probably because I had an overall strong work ethic and a true passion for pediatrics, I made it my daily goal to be deliberately consistent in the delivery of high quality care to my patients and their families. I would say out loud each morning on my way to work, “let me do well by the children,” and that mantra guided me to treat each patient and family as if I came to work that day just to see them. You can’t help but smile very often as a general pediatrician and I fed off of that energy every day. I was then able to reflect back to my families the high energy of my youthful and vibrant patient population. I also always made (and continue to make) it a point when I walk into an exam room to address the child first. If it is a two-month-old infant I will make eye contact and try to elicit a little smile and for anyone who can talk I immediately ask them first why they have come to visit me today. Just because a patient is young in age does not mean that he or she does not have the power to affect the way a visit plays out. I can’t help it when I make someone cry when I give them a shot, but I can do my best each visit to respect the child’s feelings and make the visit as pleasant and fun as possible. I think parents recognize that effort and because I am consistent in my delivery I can proudly say that I have patients whom I have known from birth who have stayed with me until they graduated out of the practice.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HealthyKidsNJ.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthykidspedsnj/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealthyKidsNJ
Image Credits
Marcello Pedalino