Current educational status of pediatric rheumatology in Europe: the survey results

Aim

To understand the status of education and problems the pediatric rheumatology practice in Europe, through a survey.

Methods

A 26-item questionnaire was conducted during the 14th Congress of the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society in Istanbul, 2007. Physicians who were practicing or studying within the field of pediatric rheumatology for at least one year were included in the survey.

Results

One hundred twenty eight physicians, 79 pediatric rheumatologists (five pediatric immunologists, 10 pediatric nephrologists), 34 pediatric rheumatology fellows and 15 adult rheumatologists completed the survey. The physicians were from: Europe 95 (81.9%), South America 12 (10.4%), Middle East 5 (4.3%), Asia 2 (1.7%), Africa 2 (1.7%). The duration of training for pediatric rheumatology ranged between 1–5 years (mean: 3.12 ± 1.11). Sixty physicians (47.2%) evaluated their education as unsatisfactory and among those, 48 physicians (50.5%) were from Europe. Subjects reported that they were capable of doing; intraarticular injections (83.3%); soft tissue injections (47.6%); evaluation of radiographs (67.5%); whereas competence in the evaluation of computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (30.5%); and musculoskeletal sonography (16.7%) were much less.

Pediatric rheumatology has established a significant position in pediatrics. However, being a relatively new field in the realm of pediatrics, pediatric rheumatology education at the European level needs to be further discussed, revised and uniformed.