The Perry Initiative's Medical Student Outreach Program Recruits Women Into Orthopaedic Residency

Abstract

Background Orthopaedic surgery lags behind other surgical specialties in terms of gender diversity. The percentage of women entering orthopaedic residency persistently remains at 14% despite near equal ratios of women to men in medical school classes. This trend has been attributed to negative perceptions among women medical students of workplace culture and lifestyle in orthopaedics as well as lack of exposure, particularly during medical school when most women decide to enter the field. Since 2012, The Perry Initiative, a nonprofit organization that is focused on recruiting and retaining women in orthopaedics, had conducted extracurricular outreach programs for first-and second-year female medical students to provide exposure and mentoring opportunities specific to orthopaedics. This program, called the Medical Student Outreach Program (MSOP), is ongoing at medical centers nationwide and has reached over 300 medical students in its first 3 program years (2012)(2013)(2014). Questions/purposes (1) What percentage of MSOP participants eventually match into orthopaedic surgery residency? (2) Does MSOP impact participants' perceptions of the orthopaedics profession as well as intellectual interest in the field? Methods The percentage of program alumnae who matched into orthopaedics was determined by annual followup for our first two cohorts who graduated from medical school. All program participants completed a survey immediately before and after the program that assessed the impact of MSOP on the student's intention to pursue orthopaedics as well as perceptions of the field and intellectual interest in the discipline. 123Clin Orthop Relat Res (2016) 474:1962-1966 DOI 10.1007 Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research ® A Publication of The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons®Results The orthopaedic surgery match rate for program participants was 31% in our first graduating class (five of 16 participants in 2015) and 28% in our second class (20 of 72 participants in 2016). Pre/post program comparisons showed that the MSOP influenced students' perceptions of the orthopaedics profession as well as overall intellectual interest in the field. Conclusions The results of our study suggest that The Perry Initiative's MSOP positively influences women to choose orthopaedic surgery as a profession. The match rate for program alumnae is twice the percentage of females in current orthopaedic residency classes. Given these positive results, MSOP can serve as a model, both in its curricular content and logistic framework, for other diversity initiatives in the field.

Female Team Physician Representation in Professional and Collegiate Athletics

“…These programs aim to increase the exposure and mentorship opportunities for female medical students to pursue orthopaedics as a career and have shown to positively influence participants to apply to orthopaedic residencies. 8,11,12 Increased female team physician mentorship within orthopaedic sports medicine may have a similar effect. With a diverse athlete cohort, paralleled diversification in the care team may be advantageous.…”

Applicant Fit and Diversity in the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Selection Process: Defining and Melding to Create a More Diverse and Stronger Residency Program

“…Orthopaedic surgery residency programs are striving to address the issue of diversity in applicant matching. For example, the Perry Initiative aims to mentor female medical students and encourage their interest in orthopaedic surgery 12 . However, it is clear that other measures in residency selection need to be taken to boost the number of women and under-represented minority orthopaedic surgeons.…”

Considerations for admission to the medical-surgical postgraduate programs at the University of Cartagena: 6 years of observation.

“…One interventionist study considered summer cardiac research programs as generators of student interest in surgical subspecialties, but did not focus on the interest of surgery in women. Efforts can be made to provide preclinical and clinical medicine students with early exposure to the field with the intention of increasing interest, informing on educational developments, dispelling misconceptions and facilitating mentoring [10,11]. The results obtained in this study are an indirect measure of the evaluation of the quality of medical education at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Cartagena.…”