Late-Career Pediatric Hospitalists: Programmatic Accommodations and Supports

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Hospital Medicine
• Geriatrics in Medicine
• Physician Workforce Studies

Background:

• The increasing number of late-career pediatric hospitalists necessitates attention to age-related challenges.
• Long shifts and overnight duties can pose difficulties for older physicians.
• Understanding current practices for aging physicians is crucial for workforce planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate current practices concerning work hours, night call, productivity, and COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) exposure modifications for late-career pediatric hospitalists.
• To assess division chiefs' knowledge of retirement supports available to older pediatric hospitalists.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional web survey was distributed to Division Chiefs in the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Hospital Medicine.
• The survey collected data on program demographics, call responsibilities, clinical schedules, COVID-19 accommodations, and retirement benefits.
• Descriptive statistics and Fisher exact test were used for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Of 47 responding programs, 12% had physicians aged 50-64 and 1.6% were 65+.
• Larger programs were more likely to permit older physicians to opt out of night call.
• Most programs offered COVID-19 accommodations, but few provided specific retirement counseling beyond financial and academic benefits.

Conclusions:

• Most pediatric hospital medicine programs have older faculty, with significant variation in accommodations and support.
• There is a need for enhanced retirement planning and support systems for aging pediatric hospitalists.
• Further research is needed to address the unique needs of the aging physician workforce.