INVESTIGATING THE GENDER GAP IN CARDIAC SURGERY RESIDENCY

Abstract

There is a major gender gap between male and female prevalence in cardiac surgery (CSx) residency training in Canada. Female medical students’ match rate to CSx is lower than that of their male counterpart despite displaying a similar interest to the speciality. To this date, the factors driving this difference are unknown. Our goal was to investigate the perspectives of medical students with regards to CSx residency training. We sent a web-based survey to all medical students at Western University between October and December 2018. All data was collected anonymously and analysed to compare males to females’ perceptions of CSx training. Fisher’s exact test was used to compare categorical responses. Statistical significance was set below 5%. A total of 153 students (63 males (42.2%) vs. 90 females (58.8%)) completed the survey. Both groups were equally distributed between the four years of medical school (p=ns). Mean age was 26.2+/-2.6 years for males and 25.5+/-2.3 years for females (p=0.12). Marital status did not differ between both groups (single: 55.6% vs. 46.7%, p=0.3) nor did the previous academic background (post-graduate studies: 23.8% vs. 20%, p=0.69). Females felt getting accepted to a CSx residency more challenging than males (63.8% for males vs. 85.6% for females, p=0.03). Both genders had similar impression regarding the difficulty of completing the residency program (p=1). When asked about the most difficult aspect about a career in CSx, more males expressed significant concerns about finding a job after completing the residency training (25.3% vs. 11.0%, p=0.02). A similar number of students expressed strong interest in applying to a residency in CSx (19.0% vs. 16.7%, p=0.83). When the students interested in applying to CSx program were asked about factors that might limit them from applying, more males expressed concerns about maintaining a work-life balance (50% vs. 6.67%, p=0.02), and again, more females expressed fears of not getting matched into CSx residency (25% vs. 73.3%, p=0.02). Despite showing a strong interest in completing a residency in CSx, female medical students perceive a significant fear of not getting matched to the speciality, which limit them from applying. On the other hand, males are mostly concerned about finding a job and maintaining a balanced life-style during and after completing training. The perceived fear among female students could be due to a misbelief of being at a gender disadvantage, and residency programs should work toward eliminating such fears.