title: Pediatric Hospital Medicine: A Proposed New Subspecialty.
abstract: Over the past 20 years, hospitalists have emerged as a distinct group of pediatric practitioners. In August of 2014, the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) received a petition to consider recommending that pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) be recognized as a distinct new subspecialty. PHM as a formal subspecialty raises important considerations related to: (1) quality, cost, and access to pediatric health care; (2) current pediatric residency training; (3) the evolving body of knowledge in pediatrics; and (4) the impact on both primary care generalists and existing subspecialists. After a comprehensive and iterative review process, the ABP recommended that the American Board of Medical Specialties approve PHM as a new subspecialty. This article describes the broad array of challenges and certain unique opportunities that were considered by the ABP in supporting PHM as a new pediatric subspecialty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida; dbarrett@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: American Board of Pediatrics, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Gail A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: McGuinness
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Associates PSC, Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.|Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: S Jean
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Emans
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Medicine, South Burlington, Vermont.
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Gerson
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
authors.forename: Mary F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Hazinski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lister
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Karen F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and.
authors.forename: Joseph W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: St Geme
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Patricia N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Whitley-Williams
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006291:Health Policy / Q000639:trends; D020445:Hospitalists; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education / Q000639:trends; D013044:Specialty Boards; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce