Pediatricians in China have a high caseload, low education level

China is believed to be facing a shortage of pediatricians, and a new study finds that a high caseload and low education level may be partially to blame. Researchers surveyed directors of more than 54,000 hospitals in China from 2015 to 2016 and found that there are roughly four pediatricians for every group of 10,000 children in the country. Almost a third of pediatricians there received only about three years of junior college training after high school, suggesting they are unprepared for the job and more likely to leave the profession. Instead of only recruiting more young pediatricians, the authors recommend a restructuring of how pediatricians in China are trained and work.