Demographic features and attitudes of program directors of combined internal medicine and pediatrics residencies

Combined residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics has proliferated greatly in the last ten years. This survey of program directors (N = 55) of such residency programs reports their personal and professional demographic characteristics as well as their perceptions about aspects of combined training. The directors were more often affiliated with Internal medicine (33 directors 60%]), 47 (85%) were men, their mean age was 44 years, they had been out of medical school for a mean of 19 years, the mean time served as program director was 2.6 years, and 32 (58%) had completed a fellowship. The programs had existed for an average of 4.2 years, the mean entering class size was 2.8 persons, and the mean number of graduates per program was 4.2. We report directors' perceptions of why students choose combined training, why the programs have proliferated, and how these residents differ from family medicine residents. We comment on curriculum design and the goals of combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency training programs.