Male students were more likely to experience gender bias from patients on the obstetrics and gynecology service. Male students also described feeling socially excluded from female-dominated clinical teams. Obstetrics and gynecology educators need to consider methods of encouraging patients to accept medical student participation regardless of gender. Obstetrics and gynecology faculty and residents need to be sensitive to subtle forms of gender bias and ensure equal inclusion for both male and female medical students.

IntroductionMany medical students have a poor perception of their obstetrics and gynecology clerkships.1 For the past several years, on the Association of American Medical Colleges graduation questionnaire, fourth-year medical students have consistently rated their experiences during their obstetrics and gynecology clerkship less favorably than their experiences in emergency medicine, internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. Students described specific areas for critique, including lack of faculty involvement in teaching, unclear learning objectives, inadequate feedback, limited opportunity for learning history-taking skills, and few experiences in learning physical examination skills. 3,4 Additionally, recruitment of US medical students entering obstetrics and gynecology has declined. In the 1990s, 86% of obstetrics and gynecology residency Dr Odrobina was participating in her residency training during the time of the study and performed this study as her senior residency research project. AbstractBackground Medical students' choice of residency specialty is based in part on their clerkship experience. Postclerkship interest in a particular specialty is associated with the students' choice to pursue a career in that field. But, many medical students have a poor perception of their obstetrics and gynecology clerkships.