Scholarly activity training in pediatric pulmonology fellowship programs

Background: Scholarly activity training is a required component of pediatric pulmonology fellowship programs. However, there are no data on resources and barriers to training and factors associated with fellow productivity. Methods: We surveyed US pediatric pulmonology fellowship program directors (FPDs) between March and October 2019. Our primary outcome was fellow productivity (>75% of fellows in the past 5 years had a manuscript accepted in a peer-reviewed journal). Analyses included descriptive statistics, χ² and Fisher's exact tests for categorical values, and t-test or Wilcoxon rank-sum test for numerical values. Results: Sixty-one percent (33/54) of FPDs completed the survey. Seventy-nine percent reported that most fellows completed clinical, basic science, or translational research. However, only 21% reported that most fellows pursued research positions after graduation; academic clinical positions were more common. For 21%, lack of funding and competing clinical responsibilities were barriers to completing the scholarly activity. Only 39% had highly productive programs; those FPDs were more likely to be highly satisfied with fellow scholarly activity products (p = 0.049) and have >6 publications in the previous 3 years (p = 0.03). Fifty-two percent of FPDs believed that pediatric pulmonary training should be shortened to 2 years for those pursuing clinical or clinician-educator careers. Conclusions: Barriers to scholarly activity training in pediatric pulmonology programs threaten the pipeline of academic pediatric pulmonologists and physician-investigators. Aligning fellow scholarly activity and clinical training with the skills required in their postgraduate positions could optimize the utilization of limited resources and better support career development.