PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

Pediatricians see no need for increase in work force

The AAP is against expanding medical school positions, which puts the specialty organization at odds with others in organized medicine.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. July 25, 2005.

The American Academy of Pediatrics supports maintaining, not increasing, U.S. medical student numbers and keeping the number of pediatric residencies unchanged, according to its new work-force statement released in July.

The AAP policy stands in contrast to that of the Council on Graduate Medical Education and the Assn. of American Medical Colleges, which are advocating a 15% increase in allopathic medical school enrollment as well as a corresponding increase in residency positions.

The AAP policy is also markedly different from that of the American College of Cardiology and other medical specialty groups that say they are experiencing work-force shortages now or expect to be in the near future. According to American Medical Association policy, there are regional and specialty shortages of physicians and an expansion of medical school and residency slots is needed.

"We're not convinced, at least for pediatric care, that there is a real need for an increase of numbers," said Michael Anderson, MD, chair of the AAP's work-force committee. "While overall the number of pediatricians is OK, we need to find ways to improve access."

Dr. Anderson explained that there are plenty of general pediatricians, they just aren't distributed evenly across the population, leaving children in traditionally underserved areas without adequate access. What shortages do exist in pediatrics are limited to particular pediatric subspecialties, he said, like rheumatology, nephrology and infectious diseases.

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