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How to become a pediatric neurosurgeon in Latin America: training opportunities, current status, and future challenges

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Abstract

Purpose

To provide an analysis of pediatric neurosurgery educational opportunities in Latin America in order to characterize and evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations to assume a career in pediatric neurosurgery.

Methods

An online survey was distributed to pediatric neurosurgeons in Latin America to assess aspects of pediatric neurosurgical education, working conditions, and training opportunities. The survey was open to neurosurgeons that treat pediatric patients, whether or not they had completed fellowship training in pediatrics. A descriptive analysis was done with a subgroup analysis stratified the results among certified pediatric neurosurgeons and non-certified pediatric neurosurgeons.

Results

In total, 106 pediatric neurosurgeons completed the survey, of whose the vast majority completed their training in a Latin American pediatric neurosurgery program. A total of 19 accredited academic programs in pediatric neurosurgery were found in Latin America distributed in 6 different countries. On average, the pediatric neurosurgical training in America Latina has a duration of 278 years, ranging from 1 to > 6 years.

Conclusions

This study is the first of its kind to review pediatric neurosurgical training in Latin America, in which both pediatric and general neurosurgeons provide neurosurgical care to children in the continent; however, we found that in the majority of the cases, children are treated by certified pediatric neurosurgeons, of whose the vast majority were trained in Latin American programs. On the other hand, we found areas of improvement in the specialty in the continent, including regulation of training opportunities, increased support for funding, and more opportunities for education among all countries.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

ISPN:

International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery

FLANC:

Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies

MIC:

Middle-income country

HIC:

High-income country

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia

    Felipe Gutiérrez Pineda

  2. Department of Medicine, Colombian National University, Bogotá, Colombia

    Santiago Díaz Pinillos

  3. Department of Medicine, Fundación Universitaria San Martin, Medellín, Colombia

    Juan Pablo Gutiérrez Pineda

  4. Department of Medicine, Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Matheus Ballestero

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Ricardo Santos De Oliveira

Authors
  1. Felipe Gutiérrez Pineda
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  2. Santiago Díaz Pinillos
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  3. Juan Pablo Gutiérrez Pineda
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  4. Matheus Ballestero
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  5. Ricardo Santos De Oliveira
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Felipe Gutierrez Pineda and Juan Pablo Gutierrez Pineda. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Felipe Gutierrez Pineda. Writing—review and editing were performed by Felipe Gutierrez Pineda, Matheus Ballestero, Juan Pablo Gutierrez Pineda, Ricardo Santos de Oliveira, and Santiago Diaz Pinillos. All authors approved the version to be published. All authors agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felipe Gutiérrez Pineda.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The questionnaire and methodology for this study were approved by the Human Research Ethics committee of the University of Antioquia, School of Medicine.

Consent for publication

Informed consent to participate was obtained prior to the interview.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Pineda, F.G., Pinillos, S.D., Pineda, J.P.G. et al. How to become a pediatric neurosurgeon in Latin America: training opportunities, current status, and future challenges. Childs Nerv Syst 39, 1627–1633 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-023-05882-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-023-05882-8

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