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. 2012 Jan;17(1):17-20.
doi: 10.1093/pch/17.1.17.

Are the career choices of paediatric residents meeting the needs of academic centres in Canada?

Bruno Piedboeuf  1 , Sarah Jones, Elaine Orrbine, Guido Filler
Affiliations

Are the career choices of paediatric residents meeting the needs of academic centres in Canada?

Bruno Piedboeuf et al. Paediatr Child Health. 2012 Jan.

Abstract
in English, French

Background: Responsibility for training paediatric medical subspecialists in Canada lies primarily with the 16 academic paediatric departments. There has been no mechanism to assess whether the number of residents in training will meet the needs of currently vacant positions and/or the predicted vacancies to be created by anticipated faculty retirement in the next five years across the different paediatric medical subspecialties.

Hypothesis: At the present time, the training of the paediatric physician is not linked with the current and future needs of the academic centres where the vast majority of these paediatric subspecialists are employed.

Methods: The academic paediatric workforce database of the Paediatric Chairs of Canada (PCC) for the surveys obtained in 2009/2010 were analyzed. Data included the number of physicians working in each subspecialty, the number of physicians 60 years of age or older, as well as the number of residents and their level of training.

Results: There are some paediatric subspecialties in which the actual number of trainees exceeds the currently predicted need (eg, cardiology, critical care, hematology-oncology, nephrology, neurology, emergency medicine and genetic-metabolic). On the other hand, for other specialties (eg, adolescent medicine, developmental paediatrics, gastroenterology and neonatology), assuming there is no significant change to selection patterns, an important gap will persist or appear between the need and the available human resources.

Conclusion: The present analysis was the first attempt to link the clinical orientation of trainees with the needs of the academic centres where the vast majority of these paediatric subspecialists work.

HISTORIQUE :: La responsabilité envers la formation des surspécialistes en pédiatrie au Canada repose principalement sur les 16 départements de pédiatrie universitaire. Il n’existe pas de mécanisme pour évaluer si le nombre de résidents en formation permettra de pourvoir les postes vacants ou dont on prévoit qu’ils le deviendront en raison des départs à la retraite anticipés d’ici cinq ans dans les diverses surspécialités de la pédiatrie.

HYPOTHÈSE :: À l’heure actuelle, la formation du pédiatre n’est pas liée aux besoins actuels et futurs des centres universitaires, où la majorité de ces surspécialistes travaillent.

MÉTHODOLOGIE :: Les auteurs ont analysé la base de données de la main-d’œuvre en pédiatrie universitaire des Directeurs de pédiatrie du Canada (DPC) contenant les enquêtes obtenues en 2009–2010. Les données incluaient le nombre de médecins qui travaillent dans chaque surspécialité, le nombre de médecins de 60 ans et plus ainsi que le nombre de résidents et leur niveau de formation.

RÉSULTATS :: Dans certaines surspécialités de la pédiatrie, le nombre de stagiaires est supérieur aux besoins prévus (p. ex., cardiologie, soins intensifs, hématologie-oncologie, néphrologie, neurologie, urgentologie et génétique-métabolisme). Par contre, dans d’autres surspécialités (p. ex., médecine de l’adolescence, pédiatrie du développement, gastroentérologie et néonatalogie), s’il n’y a pas de modification importante aux profils de sélection, un écart important persistera ou fera son apparition entre les besoins et les effectifs disponibles.

CONCLUSION:: C’est la première tentative pour relier les orientations cliniques des stagiaires aux besoins des centres universitaires, où la majorité de ces surspécialistes en pédiatrie travaillent.

Keywords: Human resource; Paediatric workforce; Specialists; Subspecialists.

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