This 2017 Presidential Address for the Association for Academic Surgery was delivered on February 8, 2017. It addresses the difficult topic of gender disparities in surgery. Mixing empirical data ...with personal anecdotes, Dr. Caprice Greenberg provides an insightful overview of this difficult challenge facing the surgical discipline and practical advice on how we can begin to address it.
BACKGROUND:Many factors play a role in academic promotion among orthopaedic surgeons. This study specifically examined the importance of publication productivity metrics, career duration, and sex on ...academic rank in orthopaedic surgery programs in the United States.
METHODS:Faculty at 142 civilian academic orthopaedic surgery departments in 2014 were identified. Geographic region, department size, and 3 specific faculty characteristics (sex, career duration, and academic position) were recorded. The Hirsch index (h-index), defined as the number (h) of an investigator’s publications that have been cited at least h times, was recorded for each surgeon. The m-index was also calculated by dividing the h-index by career duration in years. Thresholds for the h-index and the m-index were identified between junior and senior academic ranks. Multivariate analysis was used to determine whether the 3 physician factors correlated independently with academic rank.
RESULTS:The analysis included 4,663 orthopaedic surgeons at 142 academic institutions (24.7% clinical faculty and 75.3% academic faculty). Among academic faculty, the median h-index was 5, the median career duration was 15 years, and the median m-index was 0.37. Thresholds between junior and senior faculty status were 12 for the h-index and 0.51 for the m-index. Female academic faculty had a lower median h-index (3 compared with 5; p < 0.001) and career duration (10 years compared with 16 years; p < 0.001) than male academic faculty, but had a similar median m-index (0.33 compared with 0.38; p = 0.103). A higher h-index and longer career duration correlated independently with an increased probability of senior academic rank (p < 0.001), but sex did not (p = 0.217).
CONCLUSIONS:This analysis demonstrates that a higher h-index and m-index correlate with a higher academic orthopaedic faculty rank. Although female surgeons had a lower median h-index and a shorter median career duration than male surgeons, their m-index was not significantly different, and thus sex was not an independent predictor for senior academic rank. The identified thresholds (h-index of 12 and m-index of 0.51) between junior and senior academic ranks may be considered as factors in promotion considerations.
The year 2017 marked the first year women comprised a majority of U.S. medical school matriculants. While more women are pursuing surgical training, within plastic surgery, there is a steady ...attrition of women advancing in leadership roles. The authors report the current status of women in academic plastic surgery, from trainees to chairwomen and national leadership positions.
The Electronic Residency Applications Service, San Francisco Match, National Resident Matching Program, Association of American Medical Colleges, American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons, Plastic Surgery Education Network, and professional websites for journals and national societies were accessed for demographic information from 2007 to 2017.
The number of female integrated pathway applicants remained stable (30 percent), with an increased proportion of female residents from 30 percent to 40 percent. There was an increase in female faculty members from 14.6 percent to 22.0 percent, an increase of less than 1 percent per year. Twelve percent of program directors and 8.7 percent of department heads were women. Nationally, major professional societies and administrative boards demonstrated a proportion of female members ranging from 19 percent to 55 percent (average, 27.7 percent). The proportion of female committee leaders ranged from 0 percent to 50 percent (average, 21.5 percent). Only six societies have had female presidents. No major journal had had a female editor-in-chief. The proportion of female editorial board members ranged from 1 percent to 33 percent (average, 16.1 percent).
The authors' study shows a leak in the pipeline at all levels, from trainees to faculty to leadership on the national stage. This report serves as a starting point for investigating reasons for the underrepresentation of talented women in plastic surgery leadership.
Abstract Background An increasing number of women are pursuing a career in surgery. Concurrently, the percentage of surgeons in dual-profession partnerships is increasing. We sought to evaluate the ...gender differences in professional advancement, work-life balance, and satisfaction at a large academic center. Materials and methods All surgical trainees and faculty at a single academic medical center were surveyed. Collected variables included gender, academic rank, marital status, family size, division of household responsibilities, and career satisfaction. Student t -test, Fisher's exact test, and chi-square test were used to compare results. Results There were 127 faculty and 116 trainee respondents (>80% response rate). Respondents were mostly male (77% of faculty, 58% of trainees). Women were more likely than men to be married to a professional (90% versus 37%, for faculty; 82% versus 41% for trainees, P < 0.001 for both) who was working full time ( P < 0.001) and were less likely to be on tenure track ( P = 0.002). Women faculty were more likely to be primarily responsible for childcare planning ( P < 0.001), meal planning ( P < 0.001), grocery shopping ( P < 0.001), and vacation planning ( P = 0.003). Gender-neutral responsibilities included financial planning ( P = 0.04) and monthly bill payment ( P = 0.03). Gender differences in division of household responsibilities were similar in surgical trainees except for childcare planning, which was a shared responsibility. Conclusions Women surgeons are more likely to be partnered with a full-time working spouse and to be primarily responsible for managing their households. Additional consideration for improvement in recruitment and retention strategies for surgeons might address barriers to equalizing these gender disparities.
Gender disparities in academic vascular surgeons Carnevale, Matthew; Phair, John; Batarseh, Paola ...
Journal of vascular surgery,
October 2020, 2020-10-00, 20201001, Letnik:
72, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Previous studies have identified significant gender discrepancies in grant funding, leadership positions, and publication impact in surgical subspecialties. We investigated whether these ...discrepancies were also present in academic vascular surgery.
Academic websites from institutions with vascular surgery training programs were queried to identify academic faculty, and leadership positions were noted. H-index, number of citations, and total number of publications were obtained from Scopus and PubMed. Grant funding amounts and awards data were obtained from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Society for Vascular Surgery websites. Industry funding amount was obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website. Nonsurgical physicians and support staff were excluded from this analysis.
We identified 177 female faculty (18.6%) and 774 male faculty (81.4%). A total of 41 (23.2%) female surgeons held leadership positions within their institutions compared with 254 (32.9%) male surgeons (P = .009). Female surgeons held the rank of assistant professor 50.3% of the time in contrast to 33.9% of men (P < .001). The rank of associate professor was held at similar rates, 25.4% vs 20.7% (P = .187), respectively. Fewer women than men held the full professor rank, 10.7% compared with 26.2% (P < .001). Similarly, women held leadership positions less often than men, including division chief (6.8% vs 13.7%; P < .012) and vice chair of surgery (0% vs 2.2%; P < .047), but held more positions as vice dean of surgery (0.6% vs 0%; P < .037) and chief executive officer (0.6% vs 0%; P < .037). Scientific contributions based on the number of each surgeon's publications were found to be statistically different between men and women. Women had an average of 42.3 publications compared with 64.8 for men (P < .001). Female vascular surgeons were cited an average of 655.2 times, less than half the average citations of their male counterparts with 1387 citations (P < .001). The average H-index was 9.5 for female vascular surgeons compared with 13.7 for male vascular surgeons (P < .001). Correcting for years since initial board certification, women had a higher H-index per year in practice (1.32 vs 1.02; P = .005). Female vascular surgeons were more likely to have received NIH grants than their male colleagues (9.6% vs 4.0%; P = .017). Although substantial, the average value of NIH grants awarded was not statistically significant between men and women, with men on average receiving $915,590.74 ($199,119.00-$2,910,600.00) and women receiving $707,205.35 ($61,612.00-$4,857,220.00; P = .416). There was no difference in the distribution of Society for Vascular Surgery seed grants to women and men since 2007. Industry payments made publicly available according to the Sunshine Act for the year 2018 were also compared, and female vascular surgeons received an average of $2155.28 compared with their male counterparts, who received almost four times as much at $8452.43 (P < .001).
Although there is certainly improved representation of women in vascular surgery compared with several decades ago, a discrepancy still persists. Women tend to have more grants than men and receive less in industry payments, but they hold fewer leadership positions, do not publish as frequently, and are cited less than their male counterparts. Further investigation should be aimed at identifying the causes of gender disparity and systemic barriers to gender equity in academic vascular surgery.
This Invited Commentary explores disparities in academic medicine, known as the minority tax, through the careers of 2 men in senior positions, who are underrepresented minorities in medicine ...(URMMs), with the goal of sharing real-world experiences that other URMM faculty can use to their benefit. The authors use their lived experiences to document the realities of various aspects of the minority tax (i.e., isolation, mentorship, diversity efforts, and clinical assignments) and introduce a new aspect of the minority tax that has affected both of their inner decision-making processes and personal ambitionsthe gratitude tax. By sharing these experiences, the authors are also able to recognize individual mentors and sponsors as well as changes in their knowledge, skills, and attitudes that affected their ability to accomplish career goals, leading to their current academic positions. Sharing experiences is a meaningful way of providing examples for other URMM faculty to follow, as well as illustrating ways in which senior leadership can help mitigate the effect of the minority tax on URMM faculty, thereby increasing equity in academic medicine.
The current choice of digital teaching and learning formats in medicine is very heterogeneous. In addition to the widely used classical static formats, social communication tools, audio/video-based ...media, interactive formats, and electronic testing systems enrich the learning environment.For medical students, the private use of digital media is not necessarily linked to their meaningful use in the study. Many gain their experience of digital learning in the sense of "assessment drives learning", especially by taking online exams in a passive, consuming role. About half of all medical students can be referred to as "e-examinees" whose handling of digital learning is primarily focused on online exam preparation. Essentially, they do not actively influence their digital environment. Only a quarter can be identified as a "digital all-rounder", who compiles their individual learning portfolio from the broad range of digital media.At present, the use of digital media is not yet an integral and comprehensive component of the teaching framework of medical studies in Germany, but is rather used in the sense of a punctual teaching enrichment. Current trends in digital teaching and learning offerings are mobile, interactive, and personalized platforms as well as increasing the relevance of learning platforms. Furthermore, didactical concepts targeting the changed learning habits of the students are more successful regarding the acceptance and learning outcomes. In addition, digitalization is currently gaining importance as a component in the medical school curricula.
PURPOSEOne challenge academic health centers face is to advance female faculty to leadership positions and retain them there in numbers equal to men, especially given the equal representation of ...women and men among graduates of medicine and biological sciences over the last 10 years. The purpose of this study is to investigate the explicit and implicit biases favoring men as leaders, among both men and women faculty, and to assess whether these attitudes change following an educational intervention.
METHODThe authors used a standardized, 20-minute educational intervention to educate faculty about implicit biases and strategies for overcoming them. Next, they assessed the effect of this intervention. From March 2012 through April 2013, 281 faculty members participated in the intervention across 13 of 18 clinical departments.
RESULTSThe study assessed faculty members’ perceptions of bias as well as their explicit and implicit attitudes toward gender and leadership. Results indicated that the intervention significantly changed all faculty members’ perceptions of bias (P < .05 across all eight measures). Although, as expected, explicit biases did not change following the intervention, the intervention did have a small but significant positive effect on the implicit biases surrounding women and leadership of all participants regardless of age or gender (P = .008).
CONCLUSIONSThese results suggest that providing education on bias and strategies for reducing it can serve as an important step toward reducing gender bias in academic medicine and, ultimately, promoting institutional change, specifically the promoting of women to higher ranks.
PDF
