Expanding the Pipeline: Exposure and Female Mentorship Increase Interest in Orthopaedic Surgery Among Female Premedical Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Introduction: Orthopaedic surgery has the greatest degree of gender disparity among all medical specialties, presenting a little-explored opportunity to recruit women into orthopaedics early in the pipeline, particularly as undergraduate students. This study aimed to characterize the opinions of female premedical students regarding orthopaedic surgery as well as to assess the effectiveness of a virtual intervention in increasing interest in or improving attitudes toward the field. Methods: In this prospective study, recruitment emails were sent to premedical advisors, who then circulated a survey that solicited responses from female-identifying premedical students. The survey consisted of questions about demographics, Likert scale questions about opinions of orthopaedic surgery, and an open-response section. At the end of the survey, respondents were provided the option to register for a Zoom panel, in which 4 female physicians described their experiences as women in orthopaedic surgery. Survey responses were analyzed using unpaired t tests for continuous variables and analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc analysis for Likert scale responses. Results: A total of 259 female premedical students completed the survey. Respondents most strongly agreed with the statements “orthopaedics is a male-dominated field” and “I wish I learned more about orthopaedics in college.” Interest in pursuing orthopaedic surgery was greater among respondents who had undergone orthopaedic surgery, personally knew an orthopaedic surgeon, personally knew a female orthopaedic surgeon, or had shadowed in orthopaedic surgery. After attending the panel, attendees' interest in orthopaedic surgery significantly increased (p < 0.001), and attendees disagreed significantly more strongly with the notion that gender would limit their opportunities in orthopaedics (p = 0.013). Conclusion: Early exposure to orthopaedic surgery was consistently associated with increased interest among respondents. In addition, exposure to female orthopaedic surgeons was associated with more positive opinions of orthopaedics, and the mentorship intervention proved effective at increasing interest in the field. These results reinforce the need for targeted, early-exposure programs to recruit premedical women into orthopaedic surgery. Level of Evidence: Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.