Session Information
Date: Monday, November 9, 2015
Session Type: ACR Poster Session B
Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM
Background/Purpose: Pediatric Rheumatology (PR) is
among the smallest pediatric subspecialties, with only ~300 clinically active
board-certified Pediatric Rheumatologists in the US. To better characterize the
work patterns of the US PR workforce, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
performed a survey of Pediatric Rheumatologists.
Methods: A list of Pediatric
Rheumatologists was generated using the membership list of the AAP Section on
Rheumatology and the PR certification list of the American Board of Pediatrics.
An electronic survey was fielded 9/2014-12/2014. Survey domains included
demographics, practice characteristics, distribution of professional time, and
future plans. Only respondents reporting current PR practice were eligible for
analyses. SPSS 18.0 was used for analyses, including frequency
distributions, measures of central tendency, ANOVA, and χ2.
Results: 151/317 (48%) identified
Pediatric Rheumatologists responded to the survey. 138 respondents reported
current PR practice and were included in analyses. Of those, 25 (18%) reported
part-time PR practice. Part-time respondents worked fewer hours/week than
full-time respondents (mean 44 vs. 52 hours/week, p<.001), but % clinical
time, half-day clinic sessions/week, and patients seen/week were not
significantly different between the two groups (table 1). Overall, 99% of
respondents reported spending time in direct patient care, 78% reported time in
administration, 88% reported time in teaching, and 75% reported time in
research. The breakdown of apportioned time for part- and full-time respondents
is detailed in table 1. For all respondents combined, hours worked/week was
inversely related to % time spent in direct patient care (table 2, p=.016).
Conclusion: A significant minority of the PR
workforce report part-time PR practice, and more than
half of full-time respondents spend ≤60% of their time in direct patient
care. Providers who spend more time on non-clinical duties average more hours
of work/week, illustrating the extra time required for an academic career. As
most Pediatric Rheumatologists work in medical school/University affiliated
practices, with academic requirements for promotion, it is critical to account
for non-clinical time in estimates of future PR workforce requirements.
Table 1 – Comparison of part-time and full-time Pediatric Rheumatology
respondents
|
Respondents reporting PART-TIME PR practice (N=25) |
Respondents reporting FULL-TIME PR practice (N=113) |
All respondents (N=138) |
p-value (part-time vs. full-time) |
|
|
Sex |
|
|
|
NS |
|
Male |
52 (48%) |
8 (32%) |
60 (45%) |
|
|
Female |
57 (52%) |
17 (68%) |
74 (55%) |
|
|
Practice type |
|
|
|
NS |
|
Medical school / University hospital |
21 (84%) |
90 (80%) |
111 (80%) |
|
|
Other |
4 (16%) |
23 (20%) |
27 (20%) |
|
|
Clinics per week Mean (SD)
|
3.6 (2.0) |
4.1 (2.4) |
4.0 (2.3) |
NS |
|
Hours per week Mean (SD)
|
44.2 (13.5) |
55.2 (9.4) |
53.2 (11.0) |
<.001 |
|
Patients seen per week Mean (SD)
|
26.4 (20.6) |
31.0 (22.3) |
30.1 (22.0) |
NS |
|
Apportioned time |
|
|
|
|
|
Direct patient care Mean percent time
|
59.9 |
52.9 |
54.1 |
NS |
|
Administration Mean percent time
|
8.9 |
10.9 |
10.5 |
NS |
|
Teaching Mean percent time
|
11.6 |
8.2 |
8.8 |
NS |
|
Research Mean percent time
|
11.3 |
22 |
20.1 |
.055 |
Table 2 – Measures of clinical productivity and
work hours compared with percent clinical time (Includes both full-time and
part-time Pediatric Rheumatology respondents, combined)
|
|
0-20% (N=21) |
21-40% (N=24) |
41-60% (N=15) |
61-80% (N=35) |
81-100% (N=41) |
p-value |
|
Number half-day clinic sessions per week Mean (SD)
|
1.7 (1.7) |
2.3 (1.2) |
3.3 (0.9) |
5.0 (1.4) |
5.7 (2.3) |
<.001 |
|
Total number of patients seen per week Mean (SD)
|
14.0 (20.1) |
16.3 (9.3) |
29.9 (12.1) |
35.0 (14.2) |
43.4 (27.2) |
<.001 |
|
Total hours worked per week Mean (SD)
|
58.1 (8.7) |
55.3 (10.5) |
52.7 (10.0) |
54.6 (12.7) |
48.9 (10.3) |
.016 |
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Riebschleger M, Becker ML, Ruch-Ross HS, Laskosz , Radabaugh C, Ferguson PJ, Schikler KN, Hong SD. The Pediatric Rheumatology Workforce in 2015: A Survey of Pediatric Rheumatologists [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-pediatric-rheumatology-workforce-in-2015-a-survey-of-pediatric-rheumatologists/. Accessed .« Back to 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-pediatric-rheumatology-workforce-in-2015-a-survey-of-pediatric-rheumatologists/