Surgical Education: Disparities in Education May Impact the Quality and Likelihood of Completion of Training

Abstract

Female surgical trainees experience bias that begins at the preclinical stages of medical school, extending into their surgery clerkships, and then into their residency training. There are important implications in terms of training opportunities and career advancement, mentorship, sponsorship, and ultimately burnout. Childbearing and lactation also impact the experiences and perceptions of female trainees who have children. There are limited interventions that have improved the experience of women in surgical training. Mentorship appears to play an important role in ameliorating some of the negative consequences of the training environment and improving outcomes for women surgeons.

Trends in Operative Case Logs of Chief Residents in Surgery by Sex and Race

“…[10][11][12] In a national survey study, Black residents stated they did not feel that they "fit in" at their training programs, could not count on their peers for help, and were more likely to feel that they would require additional post-residency training to be practice ready. 13 Sex disparities in surgical training have been demonstrated in a number of studies detailing differences in operative autonomy, [14][15][16][17] awards distribution, 18 weaker feedback, 19 poor letters of recommendation, 15,[20][21][22] and varying rates of personal experiences with sex-based discrimination. 2,[23][24][25][26] Female residents may have more limited access to quality mentorship 27 and professional development opportunities, 28 which can lead to pervasive deleterious patterns throughout their career development, for example, inequitable compensation.…”