Factors in Orthopaedic Residency Decision-making for Female Applicants: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Orthopaedics continues to remain the medical specialty with the lowest sex diversity in the United States. Orthopaedic residency programs are highly motivated to attract the best female candidates in an effort to improve their program diversity, but no studies currently exist that examine the factors of highest importance to female applicants for orthopaedic residency selection. Methods: A two-part survey was sent to female orthopaedic residents by e-mails available in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery directory, residency program coordinators, Doximity, and institutional websites. The survey included 17 characteristics of residency programs that participants were asked to score for importance and then asked to rank their top five most influential factors when selecting an orthopaedic surgery residency. Results: The most important factors included camaraderie among residents, happiness of current residents, variety/number of cases, fellowship placement, and early surgical/clinical experience, respectively. The least important factors included sex diversity of faculty and residents, number of female residents, concurrent fellows, number of female faculty geographic location near spouse, and finally, attitudes toward maternity leave. Discussion: These data support the notion that efforts by orthopaedic residency programs to improve desirability for female applicants should focus on highlighting some of the more universal, nonsex-related factors such as the happiness and camaraderie among residents and the anticipated clinical experiences. This is opposed to showcasing features, such as maternity leave and number of current female faculty or residents, which would seemingly appeal to female applicants.

What Are the Challenges Related to Family Planning, Pregnancy, and Parenthood Faced by Women in Orthopaedic Surgery? A Systematic Review

“…Many women in orthopaedics have delayed childbearing because of their career choice; however, some stated it had a limited influence [9,11,24]. In one study in the United States, the mean age of women orthopaedic surgeons at the time of delivery of their first child was "considerably older" than population norms (33.1 versus 24.6 years) (Table 2) [11].…”

Pregnancy, parenthood, and fertility in the orthopaedic surgeon

“…20 Another potential barrier identified in eight studies was maternity leave. 7,10,13,17,18,[21][22][23] Data from studies carried out predominantly in the USA reported the duration of maternity leave in the female orthopaedic surgeon of 4.6 to 7.8 weeks, 10,17,26 which was greater than for the male orthopaedic surgeon (0.5 to 0.8 weeks). 10,17 Another study found that 33.14% of trainees (57/172) felt pressured by their programme or colleagues to reduce maternity/paternity leave, or not take it all together.…”

Recruitment of women in neurosurgery: a 7-year quantitative analysis

“…Gender diversity of faculty and residents, number of female residents, and number of female faculty were reported to be among the least influential factors in deciding on a residency program. 12 These findings, taken together, suggest that overall mentorship quality and opportunity in surgical fields ought to be emphasized in addition to gender diversity in order to maximize female medical student interest and successful recruitment.…”