[Subspecialities in pediatrics in Germany: an up-to date analysis]

There is a scarcity of data available with regard to the provision of in-hospital subspecialities in the field of pediatrics in Germany.

We performed an electronic survey in all pediatric hospitals in Germany (n = 340 with a response rate of 146 (42.9%)). In this survey, we assessed the number of pediatric subspecialties as well as its distribution with regard to position (hyrachy) and sex. In addition, we performed a second analysis based on the data provided on the websites of all included children hospitals (data available from 303 of 314 hospitals (96.5%)). Results are given in parenthesis.

Neonatology, pediatric intensive care medicine and neuropediatrics were by far the most common pediatric subspecialties, while immunology and haemostaseology were the most infrequent ones. According to our data analysis, there are 4.0 (6.4) neonatologists, 1.5 (2.6) pediatric intensivists, 1.3 (2.0) neuropaediatricians, and 1.2 (2.6) pediatric cardiologists available per a population of 100,000, but only 0.2 (0.6) pediatric nephrologists, 0.1 (0.2) pediatric immunologists, and 0.1 (0.2) pediatric haemostaseologists per a population of 100,000.

This highly uneven and skewed pattern in the distribution of pediatric in-hospital subspecialties appears to be reflective of the current in-hospital requirements, but may be also indicative of a lack in a comprehensive and across the board provision of high-end medical care in pediatrics. To assess the degree of both potential over- and under-provison of high-end specialiced medical care in the field of pediatrics, a systematic assessment of pediatric case loads in all pediatric subspecialties is required.