PROPOSAL FOR AN ADMINISTRATIVE CURRICULUM IN PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY-MEDICINE FELLOWSHIP TRAINING

Administrative tasks make up a significant component of the practice of pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians. Our survey of 10 academic pediatric emergency departments revealed that PEM physicians who are primarily clinical spent an average of 15% of their time on administrative tasks, and PEM physicians whose positions are administrative as well as clinical spent 30 to 60% of their time on administrative tasks. Of the 101 programs responding to our survey of 220 pediatric residency programs, 80% did not address hospital administrative issues, and many that did address these issues allowed these topics only one hour of presentation time per year. It is clear that there is a discrepancy between the demands placed upon PEM physicians to perform administrative tasks and the sparse or nonexistent opportunities for learning about administrative issues during residency training. It is incumbent upon pediatric emergency fellowship programs to provide an inclusive and well-structured administrative curriculum for their trainees. This article suggests a framework for such a curriculum.