Why are there so few Pediatric DOs?

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subtlewonder

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subtlewonder said:
I was looking at the numbers of DOs in each specialty and I noticed that there are only a few percent of DOs that are pediatricians...is it a difficult specialty for DOs to attain? My other question is if the majority of DOs end up in family practice because thats the only residency they match in?...

A majority of DO's do not end up in any specialty. A plurality may end up in FP, but that is often what the individual schools stress, and they feel it is their responsibility to train FP docs. Although more accurately, most DO's become primary care physicians (FP, Peds, ER, Internal medicine, OB). But that is not a new concept.

Peds is not difficult to obtain, and while I havent checked into this, I would wager that DO's occupy a relatively proportional number of pediatric slots. Remember, MD's outnumber DO's by a factor of at least 15-to-1.
 
Osteopathic physicians make up about 6% of the total physicians today. The data I have on number of DO's in each specialty is from the 1999 AOA databook. In 1999 Osteopathic physicians made up about 4.5% of total physicians.
As far as pediatrics - in 1999, about 2% of DO's were pediatricians. So they were underrepresented. The fields in which DO's were overrepresented in 1999 were EM (12%) and FP (27%). All other specialties ranged from 1-4%.
Interestingly, when you compare the % of physicians in a specialty that are osteopathic to the % of total physicians in that specialty, it is IM and Peds where DO's are the most underrepresented. (18% of total physicians were IM, only 2% of DO's. 7% of total physicians were Pediatricians, only 2% of DO's.) There are as many DO's in orthopoedic surgery, general surgery, radiology, and anesthesiology as there are in pediatrics!
Just some interesting data I thought.
 
JAMA Volume 292, No. 9. Page 1100

Resident Physicians in ACGME-Accredited Graduate Medical Education Programs August 1, 2003

Pediatrics
Total Number of programs: 202
Total No. 7773
% - 7.8

USMD No. 5295
USMD % 68.1

IMG No. 1800
IMG % 23.2

Canadian MD No. 28
Canadian MD % 0.4

Osteopathic No. 449
Osteopathic % 5.8



Keep in mind the figures are only for ACGME (MD) residency, and does not include AOA DO residency in pediatrics.


Edit: additional figures (numbers valid for ACGME residency ONLY)

Emergency Medicine
osteopathic no. 315
osteopathic % 8.1

Family medicine
osteopathic no. 1291
osteopathic % 13.5

Internal Medicine
osteopathic no. 1183
osteopathic % 5.5

Ob/GYN
osteopathic no. 322
osteopathic % 6.9
 
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