Career Choices for Graduates of Combined Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Programs: A Multi-year Survey.

Background: Combined medicine-pediatrics training was formally established in 1967 by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Internal Medicine. More than 8000 physicians have completed dual training. Their career choices are not well-described.

Objective: To describe career choices among graduates of combined medicine-pediatrics training programs.

Methods: Nationally representative research surveys conducted each winter from 2017 to 2023 of combined medicine-pediatrics (Med-Peds) residency program directors (PDs), whose programs were (1) of continued accreditation status with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (N = 77 to 80) and (2) members of the Medicine Pediatrics Program Directors Association. One of the recurring sections collected data on medicine-pediatrics residency program graduates from the previous academic year (AY), including career choices. From 2020 to 2023, the survey also collected data on the percentage of programs with fifth-year post-graduate year (PGY) chief medical residents who graduated during the previous AY, and PD-reported career choices for those chief residents.

Results: The survey response rates ranged from 70.9% (56/79) to 85.7% (66/77; mean response rate: 81.3%). Over the seven survey years, there was little variability in the mean percentage of medicine-pediatrics graduates (n = 2191) by PD-reported career field (p > 0.001 for all multi-year comparisons). Aggregated over all years, the top four reported career fields were internal medicine fellowship (16.9%), private ambulatory/outpatient practice (16.2%), medicine-pediatrics hospitalist (14.6%), and academic practice (10.2%).

Conclusions: Medicine-pediatrics physicians pursue diverse career paths and make important contributions to the healthcare workforce.