Opinion: The kids’ doctors aren’t all right
Pediatricians basically take a “vow of poverty,” but that’s just one reason for the shortage of children’s physicians.
On Friday, medical students around the U.S. will learn what residency program they have matched into. Match Day is not just momentous for those students, though. It also tells the rest of us what fields of medicine are having trouble attracting new physicians. In 2024, about 8% of pediatrics positions went unfilled, an increase from about 3% in 2023.
Meanwhile, children’s hospitals report large numbers of vacancies in many pediatric subspecialties. All of this is particularly worrisome given the rise in measles cases.
