A survey of 24 existing pediatric emergency medicine fellowship programs as of December 1987 was conducted in order to characterize the following attributes of training in pediatric emergency medicine: amount of clinical time, required and elective rotations, didactic and research experience, patient volume, and staffing. Time spent in the emergency department varies between three and 10 months annually, with a mean of 34.5 hours per week. Twenty-two (92%) of the programs have required rotations. All responding programs require research and some degree of didactic education. Patient volume varies between 20,000 and 70,000, with a median of 41,000. The data offered should act as a reference for the further development of new and existing programs.