Who wants to be a surgeon? A study of 300 first year medical students

Thomas Hs Fysh,Geraint Thomas,Harold Ellis

doi:10.1186/1472-6920-7-2

Abstract

BackgroundWhile medicine in general is becoming more female-dominated, women are still under-represented in surgery. Opinion is divided as to whether this is due to lifestyle considerations, disinterest or perceived discrimination. It is not clear at what stage these careers decisions are made.Methods300 first year medical students at Guy's King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine (GKT) were asked their view on possible career choices at this stage.ResultsWhile men represented only 38% of the student population, they represented over two-thirds of the students wishing to pursue a career in surgery.Women still opt for general practice and paediatrics.ConclusionSurgery is a disproportionately unpopular career choice of the female first-year medical students of GKT compared to the male students. It appears that the choice is freely made and, at this stage at least, does not represent concerns about compatibility with lifestyle.

Highlights

While medicine in general is becoming more female-dominated, women are still under-represented in surgery
Women still opt for general practice and paediatrics
Surgery is a disproportionately unpopular career choice of the female first-year medical students of GKT compared to the male students

Summary

Introduction

While medicine in general is becoming more female-dominated, women are still under-represented in surgery. It is conceded that numbers of women entering surgery are rising, but this is at a rate far lower than one would expect [6], with some fields such as orthopaedic and cardiothoracic surgery faring worse than others: A recent study found that while the percentage of female medical students has risen by over 40% since 1970, the proportion of female orthopaedic surgeons has risen by only 8%. Women, it appears, are still opting for general practice and paediatrics. Many convincing studies have found that that lifestyle considerations, training and 'women friendliness' were most important to women (page number not for citation purposes)

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