As Few Pediatricians as Possible and as Many Pediatricians as Necessary?

A common mantra is "as little as possible and as much as necessary." This perception can be applied to all kinds of different projects in everyday life in order to help achieve a good outcome. It also applies to medicine, for example, "as little antibiotics as possible and as much/many antibiotics as necessary." However, does this "rule" also apply to the pediatric workforce, that is, "as few pediatricians as possible and as many pediatricians as necessary"? How can we develop a sustainable pediatric workforce to meet the healthcare needs of children? We previously offered different equations for calculating the needed numbers of annually trained pediatricians to keep the actual number of pediatricians in a country stable in view of variable working conditions such as full-time or part-time working equivalents1,2 and weekly working hours and night shifts.

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