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Current status of the rheumatologists’ workforce in Latin America: a PANLAR collaborative study

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Abstract

Introduction

Studies conducted by various scientific societies have shown that the demand for specialized rheumatology care is greater than the projected growth of the workforce. Our research aims to assess the current status of the rheumatology workforce in Latin America.

Method

This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. A survey was created on the RedCap platform. Data were analyzed with STATA 15® Software. We present descriptive analyses. The rate of inhabitants per rheumatologist was calculated using the number of rheumatologists practicing in each country and the inhabitants for year 2020.

Results

Our sample was composed by 19 PANLAR member countries in Latin America. Latin America has one rheumatologist per 106,838 inhabitants. The highest rate of rheumatologist per inhabitants was found in Uruguay (1 per 27,426 inhabitants), and the lowest was found in Nicaragua (1 per 640,648 inhabitants). Mean age was 51.59 (SD12.70), ranging between 28 and 96 years of age. Mean monthly compensation was USD $2382.6 (SD$1462.5). The country with lowest salary was Venezuela ($197), whereas the highest was Costa Rica ($4500).

Conclusions

There is a high variability in rheumatologists’ workforce characteristics in Latin America. These results could lead to policies aiming to increase the availability and income of rheumatologists, in order to increase opportunity and quality of care of patients living with rheumatic diseases.

Key Points

• The rheumatologists’ workforce varies significantly among Latin American countries.

• The supply of rheumatologists is insufficient for meeting the increasing need for specialists in this field.

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Data availability

Available upon reasonable request.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Reumatología, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio - Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Unidad de Investigación PANLAR, Cra 7 # 40-62, Bogotá, Colombia

    Daniel Gerardo Fernández-Ávila

  2. Departamento de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio - Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    Daniela Patino-Hernandez

  3. Universidade Federal do Paraná, Unidad de Inivestigación PANLAR, Paraná, Brazil

    Sergio Kowalskii

  4. Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alfredo Vargas-Caselles

  5. Hospital Universitario Japonés, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

    Ana Maria Sapag

  6. Pacífica Salud - Hospital Punta Pacífica, Panama City, Panamá

    Antonio Cachafeiro-Vilar

  7. Hospital de la Policía Nacional N1 Quito, Quito, Ecuador

    Lucia Meléndez-Muñoz

  8. Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

    Carlos Santiago-Pastelín

  9. Sociedad Argentina de Reumatología, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Cesar Graf

  10. Universidade Federal do Paraná, Paraná, Brazil

    Chayanne Rossetto

  11. Instituto Nacional de Reumatología del Uruguay - Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Daniel Palleiro

  12. Departamento de Inmunología Clínica y Reumatología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Daniela Trincado

  13. Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Diana Fernández-Ávila

  14. Hospital México, Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social, San José de Costa Rica, Costa Rica

    Dina Arrieta

  15. Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de La Habana, La Habana, Cuba

    Gil Reyes

  16. Hospital Metropolitano de Santiago, Santiago, Dominican Republic

    Jossiel Then Baez

  17. Universidad Científica del Sur - Hospital Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen, Lima, Peru

    Manuel F. Ugarte-Gil

  18. Centro de Investigación Clínica de Morelia, Morelia, Mexico

    Mario Cardiel

  19. Hospital de Clínicas - Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Asunción, Paraguay

    Nelly Colman

  20. Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala - Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social, Guatemala City, Guatemala

    Nilmo Chávez

  21. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dto de Inmunologia Clínica y Reumatología, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Paula I Burgos

  22. Consultorio de Especialidades del Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social, San Salvador, El Salvador

    Ruben Montúfar

  23. Instituto Médico GANNA, Managua, Nicaragua

    Sayonara Sandino

  24. Universidad de Oriente, Cumaná, Venezuela

    Yurilis Fuentes-Silva

  25. Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires PANLAR, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Enrique R. Soriano

Authors
  1. Daniel Gerardo Fernández-Ávila
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  2. Daniela Patino-Hernandez
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  3. Sergio Kowalskii
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  4. Alfredo Vargas-Caselles
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  5. Ana Maria Sapag
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  6. Antonio Cachafeiro-Vilar
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  7. Lucia Meléndez-Muñoz
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  8. Carlos Santiago-Pastelín
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  9. Cesar Graf
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  10. Chayanne Rossetto
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  11. Daniel Palleiro
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  12. Daniela Trincado
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  13. Diana Fernández-Ávila
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  14. Dina Arrieta
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  15. Gil Reyes
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  16. Jossiel Then Baez
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  17. Manuel F. Ugarte-Gil
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  18. Mario Cardiel
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  19. Nelly Colman
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  20. Nilmo Chávez
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  21. Paula I Burgos
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  22. Ruben Montúfar
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  23. Sayonara Sandino
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  24. Yurilis Fuentes-Silva
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  25. Enrique R. Soriano
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Daniela Patino-Hernandez and Daniel Gerardo Fernández-Ávila, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Gerardo Fernández-Ávila.

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Competing interests

None to disclose.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the ethics committee at Hospital Universitario San Ignacio in Bogotá, Colombia under code of approval 2019/209.

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Fernández-Ávila, D.G., Patino-Hernandez, D., Kowalskii, S. et al. Current status of the rheumatologists’ workforce in Latin America: a PANLAR collaborative study. Clin Rheumatol 40, 2913–2920 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-05555-w

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