Elsevier

Academic Pediatrics

Volume 21, Issue 5, July 2021, Pages 912-916
Academic Pediatrics

Academic General Pediatrics Hiring Practices and Completion of Academic General Pediatrics Fellowships

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2021.04.014Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

Academic General Pediatrics (AGP) is a pediatric subspecialty with substantial faculty contributions in clinical care, research, education, and advocacy. However, AGP fellowship recruitment challenges exist. We aimed to describe AGP hiring practices from 2014 to 2019 and the role of fellowship training in hiring decisions.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional survey study of AGP Division Directors (DDs) and Fellowship Program Directors (PDs) from US-based academic institutions. Survey questions were developed iteratively and pilot-tested for content validity. Participants were identified from the Association of American Medical Colleges' directory of pediatric departments, Academic Pediatric Association's AGP Accreditation Committee's list of fellowship programs, and institutional websites. Descriptive analysis was used for close ended survey questions. Narrative responses were reviewed for trends.

Results

Forty-nine DDs (57%) and 22 PDs (73%) responded. All DDs reported at least one available faculty position and 73% reported filling a position with protected time. PDs reported 89 graduating fellows, 88% of whom secured an academic position with protected time. Seventy-percent of DDs and 100% of PDs reported that AGP fellows could secure an academic position with protected time, while only 22% and 1%, respectively, reported a graduating pediatric resident could secure a similar position. DDs indicated AGP fellowship trained candidates are preferable for enhancing research and education programs.

Conclusion

AGP remains an active subspecialty and the majority of graduating fellows secured faculty positions with protected time. Further studies are needed to understand ways to improve visibility of AGP fellowships.

Section snippets

Study Design and Participants

We conducted a cross-sectional survey study. Participants were included if they held the role of an AGP DD or PD at a US-based academic institution. We developed a list of AGP divisions from the Association of American Medical Colleges’ directory of pediatric departments.12 We reviewed the website of each affiliated pediatric department to determine whether they have an AGP division (including divisions of primary care and ambulatory pediatrics). For PDs, we utilized the APA's AGP Accreditation

Demographic Information

Forty-nine of 86 (57%) DDs participated. The majority of respondents reported working in the Northeast (31%), Midwest (20%), or Southeast (24%). All divisions included a subsection of ambulatory pediatrics, while other subsections varied and included hospital medicine (22%), complex care (41%), child abuse (45%), community pediatrics (41%), newborn medicine (57%), adolescent medicine (14%), and development and behavioral pediatrics (22%). Thirty-five percent of DDs reported having an AGP

Discussion

Our study suggests that AGP remains an active subspecialty, with DDs hiring at least one faculty position from 2014 to 2019. The majority of DDs also reported hiring faculty with protected time, suggesting that divisions value education, research and advocacy-related pursuits, in addition to clinical productivity. The majority of DDs and PDs agreed that an AGP fellow can secure an academic position with protected time, while a GPR would struggle to secure a similar position. Nevertheless, AGP

Acknowledgments

Financial statement: Dr Ragavan is supported by a University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Scholars KL2 (KL2 TR001856: PI:Rubio).

We thank Dr Tom Dewitt for his critical review of this manuscript.

References (12)

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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