Does gender predict performance of novices undergoing Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) training?

Abstract

BackgroundThis study was performed to assess the hypothesis that performance levels for Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) tasks were not dependent on trainee gender. MethodsInitial and final task completion times for 4 FLS tasks performed by 132 novices (4th-year medical students and 1st-year residents) were collated by task type and compared by gender. ResultsAll novices improved significantly with training (P > .001) on all tasks. Initial performance by men was better than by women but only reached significance for peg transfer and intracorporeal knot tying (P > .05). With training, women's performance became equivalent to that of men but showed a comparable or greater response to training. ConclusionsThe gender-related differences noted in initial FLS task performance disappeared after training. Gender displayed no effect on FLS training outcomes. The use of initial FLS task performance levels, seemingly objective selection criteria, would introduce gender bias into the ranking process.