Student Evaluation of Faculty Physicians: Gender Differences in Teaching Evaluations

Abstract

Porter, Annie C.; Lypson, Monica L.; Santen, Sally A.; Christner, Jennifer G.; Grum, Cyrl M.; and Hammoud, Maya M., ,"Student evaluation of faculty physicians: gender differences in teaching evaluations." Journal of Women's Health. 25,5. 453-456. (2016 Purpose: To investigate whether there is a difference in medical student teaching evaluations for male and female clinical physician faculty. Methods:The authors examined all teaching evaluations completed by clinical students at one North American medical school in the surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and internal medicine clinical rotations from 2008 to 2012. The authors focused on how students rated physician faculty on their ''overall quality of teaching'' using a 5-point response scale (1 = Poor to 5 = Excellent). Linear mixed-effects models provided estimated mean differences in evaluation outcomes by faculty gender.Results: There were 14,107 teaching evaluations of 965 physician faculty. Of these evaluations, 7688 (54%) were for male physician faculty and 6419 (46%) were for female physician faculty. Female physicians received significantly lower mean evaluation scores in all four rotations. The discrepancy was largest in the surgery rotation (males = 4.23, females = 4.01, p = 0.003). Pediatrics showed the next greatest difference (males = 4.44, females = 4.29, p = 0.009), followed by obstetrics and gynecology (males = 4.38, females = 4.26, p = 0.026), and internal medicine (males = 4.35, females = 4.27, p = 0.043). Conclusions: Female physicians received lower teaching evaluations in all four core clinical rotations. This comprehensive examination adds to the medical literature by illuminating subtle differences in evaluations based on physician gender, and provides further evidence of disparities for women in academic medicine.

Gender Disparities in Academic Emergency Medicine: Strategies for the Recruitment, Retention, and Promotion of Women

“…They receive quantitative and qualitative evaluations that are worse than their male counterparts from both nurses and faculty . Similarly, female faculty receive poorer teaching evaluations from students in comparison to their male counterparts . Female faculty and residents report higher rates of sexual harassment, gender bias, and discrimination directed from both patients and colleagues and ultimately higher rates of burnout and attrition from the workforce .…”

Gender Bias in Simulation-Based Assessments of Emergency Medicine Residents

“…A recent study that investigated for differences in medical student evaluations of male and female faculty physicians on 4 required clinical rotations (obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, and internal medicine) found female faculty physicians received lower scores on the evaluation item ''overall quality of teaching'' in all 4 rotations. 8 No differences were found in faculty evaluations based on medical student gender. 8 The findings suggest the transient relationships between medical students and faculty physicians may be subject to unconscious gender bias.…”

“…8 No differences were found in faculty evaluations based on medical student gender. 8 The findings suggest the transient relationships between medical students and faculty physicians may be subject to unconscious gender bias. These findings are in contrast to a large study of resident evaluations of faculty, which showed no overall gender difference in mean ratings, 9 although there was a significant interaction effect with female faculty rated highest by female residents, and male faculty rated highest by male residents.…”

Should Student Evaluation of Teaching Play a Significant Role in the Formal Assessment of Dental Faculty? Two Viewpoints

“…SETs were found to be significantly biased against female faculty members in several studies. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] While gender inequalities in SETs have been described since the mid-1970s, surprisingly little has changed with regards to gender bias. 30 Nevertheless, SETs continue to be used today as objective measures of teaching performance and to determine faculty promotion and tenure.…”

“…In one study of academic physicians, female faculty members received significantly lower SET scores than male faculty members in all core clinical rotations. 33 Another study found a gender bias against females in multi-instructor courses that were co-taught by faculty groups that were gender-and ethnically diverse. 34 SETs also provide a venue for students to anonymously express their gender biases in more obvious ways.…”