Demographics and Characteristics of Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program Directors

Abstract

Introduction: To date, there has been a paucity of research evaluating the demographics, characteristics, and surgical training of orthopaedic residency program directors (PDs). Purpose: To determine the objective characteristics of orthopaedic residency PDs by analyzing their demographic characteristics, academic backgrounds, institutional histories, research productivity, and professional leadership affiliations. Methods: Data for each PD were collected by searching publicly available curriculum vitae, LinkedIn, Healthgrades, Doximity, and/or institutional biographies and consolidated into a database. Research productivities were collected by searching PubMed and Scopus. Results: Of the 210 PDs, 188 (89.5%) were male and 22 (10.5%) were female. One hundred seventy-four (82.9%) were non-Hispanic White, 14 (6.7%) Asian American and Pacific Islander, 12 (5.7%) Black or African American, 4 (1.9%) Hispanic or Latino, and 6 (2.9%) other/unknown. Twenty-four (11.4%) PDs had a military affiliation. Moreover, the most common subspecialties among orthopaedic PDs were orthopaedic traumatology (19.5%, n = 41), sports medicine (15.7%, n = 33), and hand surgery (11.9%, n = 25). The mean Scopus h-index, total number of publications at the time of data collection (June 2022), and total number of citations for all orthopaedic residency PDs were 10.5 ± 9.5, 33.9 ± 51.0, and 801.9 ± 1,536.4, respectively. Among all PDs, the mean tenure in the position was 8.9 ± 6.2 years to date, and the mean time from completion of residency to appointment as PD was 10.0 ± 6.2 years. Conclusions: Among orthopaedic surgery residency PDs, there is sparse female and minority representation. Overarchingly, orthopaedic PDs are White men in their early 50s. Moreover, 59.1% of PDs were appointed at an institution where they completed medical school, residency, or fellowship. orthopaedic traumatology (19.5%), sports medicine (15.7%), and hand surgery (11.9%) were the subspecialties most represented in current orthopaedic surgery PDs. Clinical Relevance: This study outlines important demographic characteristics among orthopaedic surgery residency PDs. Level of Evidence: III Disclosure: The Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest forms are provided with the online version of the article (http://links.lww.com/JBJSOA/A484).

Is Program Director Gender Associated With Gender Diversity Among Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programs?

“…Scholarly productivity is one of the quantifiable metrics most often used in determining promotion for academic orthopaedic surgeons. These findings are emphasized in recent studies revealing that women often published fewer articles with overall less impact than men [8, 15, 17]. Similarly, a subsequent study utilized the h-index as a surrogate for academic productivity and noted academic rank increased as mean h-index, m-index, and e-index scores increased [3, 8].…”

“…The skewed gender distribution in orthopaedic training programs is likely a function of limited exposure to the field early on, concerns over work-life balance, lack of mentorship, and stereotypes surrounding the specialty [16, 18, 21]. Some have suggested that women in leadership influence gender diversity, serve as role models, and improve recruitment into the specialty [8, 12].…”

“…Program directors take on a higher dedicated workload as they manage their respective residency program while also balancing their clinical responsibilities. Additionally, they oversee residency cycle events, monitor and mentor a high number of trainees, certify graduates, and aid residents in addressing work–personal life balance issues [8, 22]. In fact, the role of program director is so administratively burdensome that it can be difficult for program directors to pursue their own research, and this can have adverse effects on their ability to get academic promotions in some programs.…”

Gynecologic oncology fellowship leadership trends by gender

“…This may be due to factors such as having a larger or more influential network within the institution or the benefit that familiarity with an institution may provide in successfully fulfilling the role of PD ( Van Horne et al ). Some studies have commented on the impact of institutional loyalty on the appointment of PDs across other medical specialties such as cardiothoracic imaging and orthopedic surgery ( Cummings et al, 2023 , Zippi et al, 2022 ) In both of these fields, almost 60% of PDs held positions at institutions where they p.ursued medical education or training ( Cummings et al, 2023 , Zippi et al, 2022 ). This is a higher proportion than our finding for GYO PDs, which may indicate that institutional loyalty plays a more significant role in the appointment of PDs in other fields compared to GYO.…”

Osteopathic Students Have Decreased Match Rates in Orthopaedic Surgery Compared with Allopathic Students

“…In the 2022 National Residency Match Program (NRMP) survey of program directors, 63% of respondents reported that they seldom or never interview osteopathic applicants while only 16% reported that they seldom or never interview allopathic applicants 8 . This lack of diversity and osteopathic representation is seen throughout the academic spectrum including residents, program directors, and even literature publication rates for orthopaedic journals [9][10][11][12] .…”