Only about 9% of imaging groups surveyed said that pediatric radiology was one of their top 3 hiring needs, according to a new analysis published in JACR [1].
The finding comes amid reports that pediatric radiology is facing major workforce shortages, worsened by increasing volumes, staffing demands and subspecialization within the field, experts noted.
“Since private practice radiology groups account for the majority of survey respondents, constitute the majority of radiology practice types and tend to have fewer radiologists spending 100% [of] clinical time in pediatric radiology compared to academic and national practices, it makes sense that they are the least likely to have a strong demand for hiring pediatric radiologists that solely practice pediatrics,” Shannon G. Farmakis, MD, a pediatric radiologist with Mercy Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and colleagues wrote Dec. 8. “More often, they desire pediatric radiologists that also read general radiology or other subspecialties.”
The results are from the latest American College of Radiology/Radiology Business Management Association Workforce Survey, conducted in fall of 2021. Researchers received more than 1,700 responses from individuals in the two associations’ member databases. Those included 400 decision-makers, 1,000 rank-and-file radiologists and 300-plus retired ACR members, altogether representing 376 practices.
About 9% of 407 qualified respondents listed pediatric radiology among their top needs, with all such respondents located in urban and suburban areas. Academia accounted for the largest percentage of those hiring pediatric rads (56%), followed by national/MSOs (24%), hospitals/health systems (16%) and private practice (14%). Rank-and-file radiologists reported spending 6% of their clinical time in pediatrics, with 72% of physicians doing so in academics, followed by hospitals (16%), private practice (5%) and teleradiology (4%).
Most pediatric subspecialists are allowed to work from home at 81%. And more women practiced in this space compared to overall radiology (57% vs. 28%). Farmakis and co-authors also noted that nonphysician providers are more commonly deployed in the pediatric subspecialty, with 91% of survey respondents saying they use such NPPs.
“Another interesting result, perhaps an inadvertent result of the pediatric radiology workforce shortage, is that pediatrics has the highest employment of nonphysician providers,” the authors wrote. “Many pediatric radiology practices are now using NPPs largely to offset the demands of busy fluoroscopy schedules coupled with increased clinical volumes and staff shortages, to allow the pediatric radiologists to focus on other areas in their busy practices.”
Read more about the survey results, including potential study limitations, at the link below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.