While the number of pediatric residents headed for subspecialty training appears to be on the upswing, will the workforce be adequate? Freed et al. (10.1542/peds.2016-3604) share with us the results of survey data they obtained from subspecialists who enrolled in the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process of the American Board of Pediatrics. The authors reviewed demographics of these MOC enrollees, whether they were doing predominantly clinical or research work, full or part-time, planned age of retirement and overall job satisfaction.
More than 5100 subspecialists are included in the survey results, which does show that respondents are happy with what they are doing but differences by gender and years that individuals in a subspecialty want to continue to practice before retirement are worth reading about. If you are a subspecialist or if you are worried about the pipeline of future subspecialists so that your community will have adequate specialty coverage, this is a study worth checking out.
