Pediatric and Pediatrics

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I wish to express my concern with the widespread, incorrect use of the words "pediatric" and "pediatrics." With increasing frequency, medical journals and even more often, people in conversation, use such phrases as "pediatrics resident," "pediatrics service," and "pediatrics department," employing a noun as a modifier of another noun. Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language states: pediatric also paediatric/ /adj. (paed- + -iadnic): of or relating to the care and medical treatment of children (an effective ~ service): belonging to or concerned with pediatrics.