Purpose-built for physicians
As the American College of Rheumatology marks the 50th anniversary of the first meeting of pediatric rheumatologists in North America, anemic workforce figures threaten to dilute the subspecialty’s hard-won victories in patient care.
That meeting in 1976 marked the initial formalization of pediatric rheumatology within the ACR and the United States, triggering an expansion of much-needed pediatric fellowship programs — and physicians — entering the specialty. However, that expansion has not kept pace with patient needs, according to the ACR.
“The feeling overall remains one of being concerned, because we do have a workforce shortage and an impending worsening of available workforce as people retire from active clinical practice,” Ekemini Ogbu, MD, MSc, chair of the ACR Committee on Pediatric Rheumatology, pediatric rheumatologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, told Healio.
Results from December’s Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match Day tell the story in numbers.
