XIV International SOBRADPEC Congress and Translational Research Forum Effective and interconnected participation of undergraduates and postgraduates in scientific investigation

Abstract

Regarding sex distribution, it can be seen that there was a clear prevalence of females among the undergraduates, whereas males significantly prevailed among the residents, with a six to one proportion. In contrast, the proportion of males and females was similar among postgraduates and professors, (Figure 2). This observation agrees with the literature, which shows that the number of women entering medicine in Brazil has been higher than the number of men since 2009 2 . Women are already a majority among professionals younger than 29 years and the estimate is that there will be an equilibrium between the number of men and women practicing medicine in the Country by 2028. There is also evidence that females are a majority in specialties linked to basic health care such as internal medicine, pediatrics and gynecology and obstetrics, but not in surgery. A study has shown that only 22% of final year students were interested in surgery. This study also suggested that promoting the academic and scientific side of surgery, along with career opportunities available, may be an important avenue to encourage students into surgery 3 .