Sir.—I read with interest the excellent article entitled "The Academic Pediatrician and the Practicing Pediatrician" by Dr McKay.1 I agree with Dr McKay that both academic and practicing pediatricians have important roles to play in the education of medical students, interns, and residents as well as in providing care to their patients. Because of their limitations, they do these in different ways.
A practicing pediatrician is more likely to encounter patients with minor ailments such as roseola infantum or Monilia dermatitis in his office than an academician would encounter in a hospital setting. Exposure of medical students and residents to these common conditions would be of tremendous help to them, as a majority of them may end up in private practice and providing service to the general public.
Practicing pediatricians, because of the large number of patients they examine every day, would be in a better position to