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Objectives: Studies of pediatric resident career plans and preferences help to forecast changes in the demographic profile and practice patterns of North American pediatricians, providing insights that can guide child health care and medical education policy making. With this study we aimed to compare 4 aspects of Canadian pediatric resident career plans in 1998 and 2006: (1) weekly work hours; (2) scope of practice; (3) professional activities; and (4) community size., Methods: Canadian pediatric residents were invited to participate in a national cross-sectional survey to explore career plans and preferences in 1998 (mailing) and 2006 (on-line)., Results: Response rates were 69% in 1998 and 52% in 2006. In both survey years, the majority of respondents were female (69% and 73%, respectively). Overall, residents planned to work a similar number of weekly hours in both survey years (47.8 vs 48.8). Women planned to work significantly fewer hours than men; this gap was wider in 2006 than in 1998 (1998: 2.8 fewer hours; 2006: 7.8 fewer hours). After adjusted analysis, the association between proportion of time in primary care and study year became significant; however, time in consultant general or subspecialty pediatrics remained nonsignificantly changed. Residents planned to spend less time in clinical work in 2006 than 1998 (64.4% vs 58.1%), and more planned to work and reside in metropolitan areas (68% vs 78% of decided respondents)., Conclusions: Between 1998 and 2006, there was no overall change in the number of hours that Canadian pediatric residents planned to work, but the gender gap widened because of an increase in planned weekly work hours among men. The results also suggest that new strategies may be needed to improve future pediatrician availability in small communities by addressing barriers to nonmetropolitan practice, especially for women.

Background: The traditional remedies applied by medical schools to the perennial problem of teaching "caring competence" have been unsuccessful., Purpose: Our purpose was to design and evaluate a simple and effective method for helping students maintain affective contact with their patients., Methods: Third-year medical students and pediatric residents were given the opportunity to talk informally with parents of medically ill children and reflect on the value of this experience for their learning. Trainees' opinions of the experience were measured with focus groups and a questionnaire., Results: Trainees were delighted with the experience, particularly with the following aspects: the opportunity to hear a personally relevant story told in a sincere manner, the realization that they could have an authentic interaction "even" in a medical setting, and the usefulness of the information they derived from the conversation., Conclusions: We concluded that something unique to the conversational experience has educational value.

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has stated that residency programs "must provide opportunities for residents to gain an understanding of the basic principles of biomedical ethics as it relates to the specialty." This article presents the steps taken to develop a curriculum for teaching and learning biomedical ethics in Canadian pediatric residency programs, and to provide a model for teaching ethics in this context. Using literature reviews, and opinion surveys of departmental chairpersons, pediatric residents, and practising pediatricians across Canada, we have developed a teachers' handbook to help faculty members in teaching ethics. It can also be used as a tool to enhance faculty development in ethics. The manual is to be distributed to all pediatric training programs throughout Canada in 1997, and its use will be evaluated over the subsequent year. It offers a prototype that is adaptable to Royal College programs other than pediatrics.