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

Figures & data

Table 1. Non-nephrology pediatric fellows' characteristics (n = 531).

Characteristics	n (%)
Sex (n = 523)
Male	188 (36)
Female	335 (64)
Location of medical training (n = 528)
American Medical Graduates	410 (78)
International Medical Graduates	118 (22)
Fellowship Area^a (n = 531)
Critical Care Medicine	87 (16)
Hematology-Oncology	70 (13)
Emergency	69 (13)
Neonatology	57 (11)
Endocrinology	56 (10)
Pulmonology	37 (7)
Cardiology	33 (6)
Infectious Diseases	30 (6)
Gastroenterology	26 (5)
Rheumatology	25 (5)
Developmental-Behavioral	24 (5)
Adolescent Medicine	10 (2)
Other	16 (3)

Note: ^aNine fellows indicated that they specialized in more than one area.

Table 2. Non-nephrology pediatric fellows' perception of pediatric nephrology as a difficult field.

	Easy		Difficult
	N	(%)	n	(%)	p Value
Overall	214	(40)	317	(60)
Male^a	95	(51)	93	(49)	<0.001
Female^a	116	(35)	219	(65)
American Medical Graduates^a	157	(38)	253	(62)	0.051
IMG^a	56	(47)	62	(53)
Male American Medical Graduates	71	(50)	72	(50)	0.001
Female American Medical Graduates	84	(32)	180	(68)
Male International Medical Graduates	23	(52)	21	(48)
Female International Medical Graduates	32	(46)	38	(54)
Considered nephrology as a specialty	48	(53)	42	(47)	0.006
Did not consider nephrology as a specialty	166	(38)	275	(62)

Note: ^aGender and training location information was voluntary.

Table 3. Reasons for not considering pediatric nephrology as a career by non-renal pediatric fellows.

	Overall (n = 441) %	Male (n = 149) %	Female (n = 284) %	p Value
Too difficult of subject matter to grasp	22	16	26	0.023
Not taught well	18	18	18	0.894
No role model or mentor to guide me towards nephrology	25	29	30	0.876
Monetary benefit is not adequate	13	24	8	<0.001
Lifestyle is not appealing	18	21	16	0.233
Dialysis and transplant patients are too complicated to take care of	19	17	20	0.510
Not enough procedures	20	24	18	0.170
No interest	21	24	20	0.409
Liked my field better	17	18	17	0.750

Note: Respondents could choose more than one answer. Gender information was voluntary.