Wanted: pediatric nephrologists! — why trainees are not choosing pediatric nephrology

AbstractA workforce crisis for many pediatric specialties, particularly nephrology, is due to growing retirement rates, attrition during training, and retention difficulties. To obtain specific information regarding pediatric nephrology trainee shortages, we administered two cross-sectional surveys to non-renal pediatric subspecialty fellows and pediatric nephrology program directors. We characterized the fellows' experiences with nephrology and the program directors' experiences with their fellows as well as their outcomes in the last 10 years. We analyzed responses from 531 non-renal fellows (14.4% response rate). Overall, 317 (60%) fellows rated nephrology as difficult, particularly women (65.4% vs. 49.5%, p < 0.001), with American women medical graduates rating nephrology as more difficult compared to all others (p = 0.001). More men than women (24% vs. 8%, p < 0.001) considered the monetary benefit as not adequate. Program directors (25; 64% response rate) represented 57% of all USA fellows in traini...