Editorial: The maturation of a specialty: Workforce projections for endocrine surgery

Abstract

Labor force planning in endocrine surgery is essential if the demand for more high-volume endocrine specialists is to be met.” Thus, the conclusion by Sosa et al, in their article entitled “The Maturation of a Specialty: Work Force Projections for Endocrine Surgery.” The model used by Sosa et al to calculate supply and demand is derived from supply projections based on data from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a survey of endocrine surgery fellowship graduates and the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS) disease estimates. Procedure estimates (demand) come from the HCUP-NIS, U.S. Census, and literature estimates. Estimates of supply and demand vary considerably within the ranges provided by this study. Absolute numbers cannot be ascertained from these projections and may underor overestimate spuriously the future needs. The estimates are not nearly as important as is a far more vexing issue. If 1% of the surgeons (those with a high-volume endocrine practice) performing endocrine procedures perform 24% of the available operative procedures, there is little doubt that with appropriate planning, training, and redistribution of services, adequate numbers of well-trained, high-volume surgeons can and will be available in the