120: The kids’ doctors aren’t all right

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.

On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” Faith Crittenden, a pediatric endocrinology fellow, and Jared E. Boyce, an M.D.-Ph.D. candidate who is interested in entering pediatrics, share the many reasons for the shortage. There’s the money — pediatricians are paid less than many other doctors, which can be a deal-breaker if you’re graduating with $200,000 in loans.