PPDDA and PEPTDA Workforce Summit
These issues potentially adversely impact the workforce which is already stretched such that significant portions of the United States are without adequate numbers of pediatric pulmonologists and children in those areas are underserved (Figure 3). A potential workforce crisis, in which the need for pediatric pulmonary medicine specialists exceeds supply, represents a serious threat to the respiratory health of children and may become a major public health crisis. For this reason, the combined memberships of the Pediatric Pulmonology Division Directors Association (PPDDA) and Pediatric Pulmonary Training Directors Association (PEPTDA) attempted to address these complex issues through a series of in-person meetings at the American Thoracic Society International Conference and North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference and ongoing conference calls. The larger group was divided into three work groups to address three separate areas of the pediatric pulmonology workforce issue: 1) factors impacting recruitment into pediatric pulmonology training programs, 2) evaluation of the effectiveness and outcomes of pediatric pulmonology training programs and 3) the pediatric pulmonary medicine landscape of the future. Each of these groups presents a summary of their work and recommendations to address the workforce issue in three additional installments.