TY - JOUR
T1 - Career activities of physicians taking the subspecialty board examination in blood banking/transfusion medicine
AU - Mc Cullough, Jeffrey
AU - Benson, Kaaron
AU - Roseff, Susan
AU - Simon, Toby
AU - Strauss, Ronald
AU - Stubbs, James
AU - Triulzi, Darrell
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2008/4
Y1 - 2008/4
N2 - BACKGROUND: Changes in blood banking and transfusion medicine (BB/TM) in the past 15 years may have made BB/TM a less attractive career choice than previously for physicians. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: To evaluate this, we developed a survey of professional activities and sent it to all physicians who took the BB/TM specialty examination offered by the American Board of Pathology (ABP) between 1995 and 2004. RESULTS: The examination was taken by 390 physicians (range, 25-68/year). Responses to the survey were received by 151 (39%). The number of candidates did not appear to be declining during the 10 years. All physicians who responded had practiced BB/TM and 94 percent were still doing so. Forty-three percent were engaged in BB/TM full-time and another 10 percent for at least 75 percent of the time. Most of the remaining time was devoted to pathology. Forty-three percent practiced in a university hospital, 22 percent in a community hospital, and 21 percent in a blood center. Examples of practice activities included transfusion service (85%), therapeutic apheresis (63%), stem cell collection (46%), stem cell laboratory (32%), and coagulation laboratory (29%). Sixty-six percent are involved in research. DISCUSSION: Interest in BB/TM careers is not decreasing as evidenced by the number of physicians taking the ABP specialty examination. Most currently practice BB/TM, many in an academic environment. Their activities are diverse. Many are involved in research and have presented abstracts at professional meetings. Approximately 60 percent combine the practice of BB/TM with pathology, but only a few (6%) practice hematology.
AB - BACKGROUND: Changes in blood banking and transfusion medicine (BB/TM) in the past 15 years may have made BB/TM a less attractive career choice than previously for physicians. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: To evaluate this, we developed a survey of professional activities and sent it to all physicians who took the BB/TM specialty examination offered by the American Board of Pathology (ABP) between 1995 and 2004. RESULTS: The examination was taken by 390 physicians (range, 25-68/year). Responses to the survey were received by 151 (39%). The number of candidates did not appear to be declining during the 10 years. All physicians who responded had practiced BB/TM and 94 percent were still doing so. Forty-three percent were engaged in BB/TM full-time and another 10 percent for at least 75 percent of the time. Most of the remaining time was devoted to pathology. Forty-three percent practiced in a university hospital, 22 percent in a community hospital, and 21 percent in a blood center. Examples of practice activities included transfusion service (85%), therapeutic apheresis (63%), stem cell collection (46%), stem cell laboratory (32%), and coagulation laboratory (29%). Sixty-six percent are involved in research. DISCUSSION: Interest in BB/TM careers is not decreasing as evidenced by the number of physicians taking the ABP specialty examination. Most currently practice BB/TM, many in an academic environment. Their activities are diverse. Many are involved in research and have presented abstracts at professional meetings. Approximately 60 percent combine the practice of BB/TM with pathology, but only a few (6%) practice hematology.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1537-2995.2007.01603.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1537-2995.2007.01603.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 18194374
AN - SCOPUS:41149137326
SN - 0041-1132
VL - 48
SP - 762
EP - 767
JO - Transfusion
JF - Transfusion
IS - 4
ER -