Background/Purpose:
There remain valid concerns about the capability of the pediatric rheumatology
(PR) workforce to meet the clinical needs of U.S. children and to absorb the imminent
retirement of senior practitioners.  The
American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Rheumatology (AAPSORh)
performed a survey to characterize current PR work force patterns and identify
factors in employment selection.

Methods: Eligible PR survey recipients
were identified using the AAP SORh member list and American Board of Pediatrics certified PR
practitioners. An electronic survey was fielded from 9/2014-12/2104. Survey
domains included demographics, training, practice
characteristics, distribution of professional time, call responsibilities, and
plans for retirement. Respondents reporting current PR practice were eligible
for analyses.  Descriptive analyses utilized frequency distributions and
measures of central tendency as appropriate.  Statistical significance was
tested using ANOVA for comparison of means and chi square for cross tabulations.

Results:  151/317 (48%) identified PR responded to the survey,
however, 137 (55% female) identified important factors in employment selection
and were included in this analysis.  Of
factors listed, location (59%) was ranked most frequently and salary (18%) was
ranked least frequently as “most important” by respondents (Table 1).  Females significantly rated
“mentorship” as a very important factor compared to males (37% v 17%, p=.02) (Figure
1). Many factors were significantly correlated with one another and could be
grouped including:  “Life” factors which
included: location and spouse/partner employment; “University” factors which
included:  research, university
affiliation, and mentorship; and “Job” factors which included: salary and practice
size.   Although there was a clear order
of importance, there was overlap between groups (Table 1).  Significantly more females than males
rated one or more “Life” factors as very important (80% v 60%, p=.01).

Conclusion:    As the PR current and future workforce plays
an important role in access to care, understanding what fuels employment decisions
may assist in the development of workforce initiatives.  The current PR workforce survey suggests “Life”
factors as most important in decision making about employment.  Incentivizing practice locations, making
larger efforts in spouse/partner recruitment, and targeting future trainees
from underrepresented areas to return to these areas may be worthwhile investments
for future workforce priorities.    

Figure
1:

Table
1