Adolescent medicine subspecialty workforce: Insights from Canada

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Adolescent Medicine (AM) in Canada has undergone significant growth since being accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) in May 2007. A deeper understanding of the workforce is needed in order to identify current gaps, to improve clinical care and scholarly endeavors, and to inform future developments. Methods This is the first AM workforce survey administered in Canada and included 39 multiple-choice and 3 open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and thematic analysis was used for open-ended questions. Results We identified 62 AM specialists from across Canada. The overall response was 97% (60/62). Most AM specialists were women (39/53, 74%), Caucasian (38/53, 72%), between 30 and 39 years old (22/53, 42%), and completed their subspecialty training in either Toronto (24/48, 50%) or Montreal (12/48, 25%). Nearly half of participants worked in either the Toronto, Ontario (13/49, 27%) or Montreal, Quebec (10/49, 20%). Nearly all participants (46/49, 94%) practiced in large urban population centres and were based in academic health science centres. The primary clinical areas of focus included eating disorders (25/51, 49%) and mental health (9/51, 18%). Almost all participants were satisfied with their career choice (41/50, 82%). Two-thirds of the participants (31/48, 65%) believed that there was an insufficient number of AM specialists in Canada. Conclusions Highlighting current characteristics of the AM subspecialty will help government and academic policymakers in understanding the workforce available to care for Canadian adolescents and the need to develop training programs and policies to address gaps and shortages.