Pediatrician Profile

• Number of Pediatricians: The American Board of Pediatrics reported that, as of December 2006, there were 87,515 general pediatricians and 17,490 subspecialists in 17 subspecialties. The greatest number of subspecialists were in the area of neonatal-perinatal medicine (4,421), distantly followed by hematology-oncology (2,051). The fewest subspecialists were in the area of medical toxicology (31), closely followed by transplant hepatology (41).

• Pediatricians' Work Hours: The results of a 2000 survey by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found that pediatricians who have completed postgraduate training work an average of 51.9 hours per week. Specifically, when looking at the sexes, male pediatricians who reported working full-time worked an average of 56.8 hours per week, while female pediatricians who reported working full-time worked an average of 55.6 hours per week. The survey also found that 96% of male pediatricians were working full-time and 76% of female pediatricians were working full-time. "Childcare responsibilities" was cited as the main reason for not working full-time, with 43.2% of respondents giving this reason. The next most popular reason was "personal preference," with 39.2% of respondents citing this reason.

• Pediatric Practice by Area: The 2000 survey by the AAP found that 32.1% of pediatricians worked in a non-inner city urban setting, 32.1% worked in a suburban setting, 26.7% worked in an inner city urban setting, and 9.1% worked in a rural setting.

• Pediatric Practice Environment: The AAP's 2000 survey found that the most common type of practice environment for pediatricians was the pediatric group practice, with 28.5% of respondents reporting working in this environment. The second most common environment was "medical school or parent university" (19.6%). The least common environments were "US government hospital or clinic" (3.2%) and "HMO-Staff Model" (3.4%).

• Pediatric Patient Visits: According to the 2000 survey by the AAP, pediatricians had an average of 93.6 patient visits per week. Most visits (36.9%) were well/preventive care visits or services (with no problems identified), while the fewest visits (aside from the category "other") were for "an ambiguous or unclear problem" (5.6%).

• Pediatricians & Parents Who Won't Vaccinate: A survey of approximately 1,000 AAP members found that 54% experienced incidents of total vaccine refusal during a 12-month period, and that 39% of pediatricians said that they would dismiss a family for refusing all vaccinations, while 28% said they would dismiss a family for refusing select vaccines. "Dismissers" were not significantly different from "nondismissers" with respect to age, sex, and number of years in practice. (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, October 2005)

• Pediatricians' Reading Habits: Results of a survey of AAP members found that: pediatricians in practice read on average 145-184 articles per year; most article reading is for current awareness, but pediatricians also read heavily for treatment/diagnosis and other purposes; pediatricians read quickly – on average 22 minutes per article; the majority of articles read are from personal print subscriptions; reading for research, writing, and presentations are more likely from library-provided electronic journals; and those under 35 are more likely to use PDAs, although few use them yet for journal article reading. (Journal of the Medical Library Association, January 2007)

• Pediatric Malpractice: In an investigation of malpractice claims, researchers found that during the period 1985 to 2005, there were 214,226 closed claims reported to the Physician Insurers Association of America data-sharing project. Pediatricians account for 2.97% of these claims, making pediatrics 10th among the 28 specialties in terms of the number of closed claims. Pediatrics ranks 16th in terms of indemnity payment rate (28.13%), with dentistry ranked highest at 43.35%, followed by obstetrics and gynecology at 35.50%. (Pediatrics, July 2007)

• Nurse (4,601 jobs)

• Allied Health (2,506 jobs)

• MD (8,211 jobs)

• Other (1,167 jobs)