Women Physicians Research Articles

Women in the Operating Room: The Role of Mentorship in Challenging the Gendered Norms of Surgical Practices.

Historically, surgery has been considered an inherently "masculine" profession. This persistent stereotype has led to gender inequality in currently practicing surgeons, despite gender parity of newly admitted medical students in North America. Since women began practising medicine in the 19th century, these norms began to be challenged in tandem with the suffragette movement. In the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, pioneering female physicians and surgeons worked together to establish spaces where women would be welcomed and mentored the next generation of female surgeons. In this essay, I highlight prominent women physicians and surgeons that have contributed to the presence of women in the operating room through mentorship.

Sticky Floor, Broken Ladder, and Glass Ceiling in Internal Medicine Academic Ranking, Leadership, and Research Productivity.

Despite more women entering medicine, substantial gender disparities remain in various medical disciplines. This study explores the extent of these disparities in Canadian academic internal medicine, particularly in academic ranks, leadership positions, and research productivity. Cross-sectional. Faculty physicians within internal medicine and subspecialties. Data on faculty physicians with Medical Doctorate (MD), Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO), or Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degrees were compiled from 17 internal medicine programs listed in the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS). Research metrics were obtained using Elsevier's Scopus, and analyses were performed with Stata v14.2. Among 5099 physician faculty members in internal medicine, 34% were women, and 66% were men. Among the faculty members holding leadership positions, 68% were men, and 32% were women. There was a significant difference in h-index between men and women physician faculty members (p ≤ 0.001), with men having a higher research output. Across all academic ranks, men faculty had higher median h-index values: Assistant Professor (12 vs. 9), Associate Professor (20 vs. 16), and Professor (40 vs. 30). Women were underrepresented in the procedural specialties, while only a few internal medicine subspecialties, such as palliative medicine and geriatrics, had a women predominance. Our study underscores existing gender disparity within academic internal medicine in Canada, aligning with global trends. Women remain disproportionately underrepresented in academic ranks, leadership positions, and research productivity. Addressing these disparities necessitates a systemic and multifaceted approach, encompassing policy reforms, mentorship, and fostering an inclusive work environment.

Stress and Women Physicians: Effects on Infertility and Family Planning

Burnout is an occupational stress phenomenon with physical, cognitive and emotional components. Women physicians encounter distinctive factors that contribute to occupational stress and burnout. The physiological underpinnings of burnout and its connection to fertility have been studied primarily through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Among women physicians, both individual and organizational factors related to burnout can result in delays in family planning and infertility. Women physicians considering family planning express concerns about being negatively perceived and the effect on career advancement. Women physicians are more likely to require assisted reproductive technologies and experience complications during pregnancy. An emphasis on early education of reproductive options and use of evidence based psychological interventions during the treatment of infertility can reduce stress and improve outcomes. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2024;54(10):e277–e281.]

Maude Abbott: "A Feminine Misfit in an Exclusive Male Environment" and Her Strategies for Success.

Maude Abbott was a pioneering female Canadian physician who became a world authority on medical museums and congenital heart disease. Abbott spent almost all her career in highly sexist, discriminatory work environments. This paper reviews Abbott's life and accomplishments, but, more importantly, analyzes her pathway to success in the masculine world of early 20th-century academic pathology. Abbott, though well-trained as a pathologist, never provided clinical service, but instead worked as museum curator at McGill University. She established the International Association of Medical Museums (predecessor to the International Academy of Pathology), edited its journal, and essentially ran the organization. Abbott, surrounded by influential males, dealt differently with each. In general, she recognized that male doctors believed women lacked the gravitas to lead major initiatives but that she could circumnavigate this supposed impediment by co-leading projects with male counterparts, preferably ones too busy to get in her way. She repeatedly used this approach, and by doing most of the work but sharing credit, succeeded in gaining reputation, accomplishment, and advancement. Abbott's pioneering work on congenital heart disease established her as one of the founders of pediatric pathology, and, overall, her career promoted the entry of women physicians into the pathology profession.

Should I Stay, or Should I Go? Emotional Exhaustion's Association with Intent to Leave in a National Sample of Female Physician Trainees.

Background: Physician burnout disproportionately affects women and contributes to attrition from the workforce, a costly problem that likely begins in training. Female physicians leave the workforce significantly earlier than male counterparts. The association between burnout and attrition intent in women physician trainees is unknown. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a national sample of female physician trainees in a randomized controlled trial testing a well-being program in 2022. Participants completed surveys on burnout and intent to leave. Associations were analyzed using chi-square testing and univariable linear regression. Results: A total of 1,017 trainees responded. The average standard deviation (SD) age was 30.8 (4.0) years, 959 (94.3%) self-identified as a woman, and 540 (53.1%) as White. One-fifth (207, 20.7%) were in postgraduate year (PGY)-1, 198 (19.8%) PGY-2, and 595 (59.5%) ≥ PGY-3. Most scored positively for burnout; 77.5% experienced high emotional exhaustion (EE). One-fifth (20.6%) reported some intent to leave their program before graduation, and 32.7% reported intent to leave their specialty within 2 years. There was a strong association between EE scores and intent to leave: trainees reporting a high likelihood to leave before graduation had a 22.27 higher EE point average than those reporting no likelihood (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.80, 36.74, p = 0.003). Conclusions: Attrition intent was associated with burnout. Addressing burnout during training will not only benefit trainees but could impact the retention of women physicians.

Dr Bonté Elgood (1874-1960): First woman doctor in Egypt and pioneer of maternal and child care.

Bonté Elgood, née Amos, was one of the early women doctors who qualified from the progressive London School of Medicine for Women, established in 1874. She chose to practice in Egypt which was then under British administration. When she arrived in 1900, Egyptian medical provision for mothers and children was rudimentary where it existed at all. For over 50 years, Bonté Elgood played an important role in setting up maternity care and child health services, first in Cairo and later in the whole country. For her work, she was awarded the OBE and CBE by the British government, and she also received decorations from the French and Egyptian governments.

Prescribing Information: Elizabeth B. Connell, the Pill, and the (Woman) Patient's Peace of Mind.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, commercialized reproductive technologies experienced a reputational crisis as news about the hormonal birth control pill's possible side effects reportedly caused 18-30% of women to stop taking it. While secondary literature has followed patients' and legislatures' actions, few histories have focused on physicians' responses. How did physicians manage this public crisis of confidence? This article contributes to existing literature through a backstage look at the work of Elizabeth B. Connell (1925-2018), whose wide-ranging career in medicine, academia, government, industry consulting, and popular writing embroiled her at the center of these controversies. To counter critique from legislatures and consumer reformers, Connell became a mediator for medicine in the public sphere, dispensing select information and arguing for limits on others - for the patient's sake. If legislative inquiry's primary havoc was unleashing information, Connell would help the profession moderate it. Because Connell was a woman doctor whom health feminists who were her contemporaries denied was a feminist doctor, the existing scholarship has occluded her. This article reconstructs the contributions of this important and flawed doctor, illuminating how she contorted herself to suit her various public messages, constrained by her conflicting, dual identities as woman and doctor.

Examining career trajectories of Norwegian PhD recipients: slower progression for women academics but not a leaky pipeline

ABSTRACT We use longitudinal data for the entire population of Norwegian PhD recipients over five decades to examine why only one-third of full professors in Norway are women, despite gender balance among current PhDs. We find that 90% of the lower female representation is due to lower female proportions in earlier PhD cohorts, increasing sizes of cohorts, and decreasing overall rates of promotion, which together we call ‘compositional/historical factors’. We find that the remaining imbalance is not caused by women dropping out, but rather by 14–18% slower average promotion rates calculated using hazard analysis. However, on average, women eventually catch up with men after about 20 years, although this differs by field. A similar hazard analysis for the US shows that women doctorates are less likely than men to enter tenure-track academia although more likely to enter non-tenure-track academia. This leads to larger US gender differences in advancement to full professorships and no eventual convergence. We suggest possible reasons for the differences between Norway and the US.

Malpractice rates are lower for women physicians compared to men physicians

Background Previous literature has shown that women physicians are less likely to be involved in medical malpractice litigation than male physicians. Methods This study sought to examine the differences in malpractice experience by provider gender by using closed medical malpractice claims from 2011 through 2020. Results We found that after adjusting for the number of claims and dollar losses per full time equivalents worked, female physicians experienced fewer and less costly claims than male physicians ( p < .001). Specific specialties had a significant relationship between claim frequency and provider gender, which included general surgery ( p = .01), obstetrics ( p = .001), gynecology ( p = .04), internal medicine and family general practice ( p < .001). Conclusion The results from this analysis support the prior findings that male physicians experience a higher rate of malpractice claims. Therefore, there is an opportunity to learn how women providers achieve lower malpractice risk to inform clinical practice recommendations.

‘The Doctor in Search of Herself’: women doctors’ autobiographies, second wave feminism, and the feminist women’s health movement, 1976-1987

Second wave feminist legal and educational reform contributed to the fourfold rise in the number of women doctors in the United States between 1970 and 1990, challenging the hierarchical medical...

Treatment satisfaction, unmet needs, and new treatment expectations for vasomotor symptoms due to menopause: women's and physicians' opinions.

To assess treatment satisfaction, unmet treatment needs, and new vasomotor symptom (VMS) treatment expectations among women with moderate to severe VMS and physicians treating women with VMS. This noninterventional, nonrandomized survey included qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys of women and physicians in the US. Participating women had moderate to severe VMS in the past year and received ≥1 hormone therapy (HT), non-HT, or over-the-counter (OTC) treatment for VMS in the past 3 months. Participating physicians were obstetrician-gynecologists (OB-GYNs) and primary care physicians (PCPs) who treated ≥15 women with VMS in the past 3 months. Two online survey questionnaires were developed using insights from literature, qualitative interviews, and clinical experts. Menopause Symptoms Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (MS-TSQ) measured treatment satisfaction. Results were summarized descriptively. Questionnaires were completed by 401 women with VMS and 207 physicians treating VMS. Among women, mean total MS-TSQ score ranges were 62.8-67.3 for HT, 59.8-69.7 for non-HT, and 58.0-64.9 for OTC treatments. Among physicians, mean total MS-TSQ scores were considerably higher for HT than for non-HT and OTC treatments (HT: 73.4-75.6; non-HT: 55.6-62.1; OTC: 49.2-54.7). Women reported "lack of effectiveness" (41.2%), and physicians reported "long-term safety concerns" (56.5%) as main features that do not meet their current treatment expectations. The majority of women and physicians would consider trying a new non-HT treatment for VMS (75.8 and 75.9%, respectively). Treatment satisfaction and new treatment expectations were similar but with some differences between women and physicians; the need for additional treatments for VMS was identified.

How Early Career Family Medicine Women Physicians Negotiate Their First Job After Residency.

Nested within a growing body of evidence of a gender pay gap in medicine are more alarming recent findings from family medicine: a gender pay gap of 16% can be detected at a very early career stage. This article explores qualitative evidence of women's experiences negotiating for their first job out of residency to ascertain women's engagement with and approach to the negotiation process. We recruited family physicians who graduated residency in 2019 and responded to the American Board of Family Medicine 2022 graduate survey. We developed a semistructured interview guide following a modified life history approach to uncover women's experiences through the transitory stages from residency to workforce. A qualitative researcher used Zoom to interview 19 geographically and racially diverse early career women physicians. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using NVivo software following an Inductive Content Analysis approach. Three main themes emerged from the data. First, salary was found to be nonnegotiable, exemplified by participants' inability to change initial salary offers. Second, the role of peer support throughout residency and early career was crucial to uncovering and rectifying salary inequity. Third, a pay expectation gap was identified among women from minority and low-income households. To rectify the gender pay gap in medicine, a systems-level approach is required. This can be achieved through various levels of interventions: societally expanding the use of and removing the stigma around parental leave, recognizing the importance of contributions not currently valued by productivity-based payment models, examining assumptions about leadership; and institutionally moving away from fee-for-service systems, encouraging flexible schedules, increasing salary transparency, and improving advancement transparency.

Dr Catherine Chisholm, 'children's physician': Her work for child welfare and feminist networking in Manchester.

Catherine Chisholm BA MB ChB MD FRCP CBE (1879-1952) is celebrated as the first woman to qualify in medicine from Manchester University in 1904 and is remembered for founding the Manchester Babies Hospital in 1914 (later renamed in 1935 as the Duchess of York Hospital for Babies). She was indefatigable in her pursuit to improve the education and status of women doctors; the first woman member and president of the British Paediatric Society; first woman president of the Manchester Medical Society and was mainly responsible for establishing the Medical Women's Federation in 1917. Her career was a complex mixture of medical and social networks that linked her work as a children's physician to the Manchester Public Health Committee, Liberal politics and feminist groups. These networks played an important role in Dr Chisholm's successful career and are at the centre of this paper.

Women And Health In Southwest Nigeria, 1901-1960

The nexus between health and wealth is incontrovertible. Health creates wealth. In the absence of health, production of goods and services, a fundamental aspect of every civilization is unattainable. It is not even possible for a society bereft of healthy population to reproduce itself. In consequence, the maxim “health is wealth” is apt and unarguable. Health, however, is not an abstract idea and it does not occur in a vacuum. It requires massive investments on the part of the government and diligent efforts on the part of the individuals so that the society has a virile and healthy population which is indispensable to development. Among the ways women contribute to economic upliftment and development all over the world is through their employment in the health sector. This could be done formally or otherwise. There are women doctors, dentists, gynecologists, nurses, midwives and female health-care professionals that have contributed immensely to the growth and development of Southwest Nigeria. Given the inadequate scholarly attention devoted to these professionals, this article analyses a history of women and health with a view to examining the contributions of women to health in the Southwest Nigeria from 1901 to 1960. The study relies heavily on the combination of oral, archival and secondary sources.

Alleviating stressfeeding in the emergency department: Elucidating the tensions induced by workplace lactation space issues.

Women remain underrepresented in the emergency medicine (EM) workforce, academic EM, and institutional leadership. In order to support women physicians in EM, we must explore factors that contribute to attrition and workplace satisfaction. For example, tensions between workplace and familial roles are important to consider as women navigate careers in EM. The logistics and stressors of workplace lactation pose a particular challenge during an already stressful time for a new mother returning to work in a busy emergency department (ED), but limited empirical data exist regarding this experience. We aimed to explore the stressors associated with workplace lactation spaces in order to better inform the creation of lactation spaces for individuals working in EDs. Our team used an exploratory qualitative design to investigate lactation-specific stressors and understand their relationship to individuals' needs when lactating in EM workplace environments. A total of 40 individuals were interviewed, highlighting post-pregnancy return-to-work (RTW) experiences of medical students, residents, advanced practice professionals, nurses, fellows, and faculty. Interviews were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. We identified both tangible and intangible characteristics of lactation spaces that contribute to stress for lactating individuals. Additionally, we discovered that participants frequently noted a desire to work simultaneously while pumping in order to feel they were self-actualizing in their dual roles of parent and clinician. Among tangible items, access to a computer within lactation space was a key driver of ability to fulfill dual roles. Among intangible characteristics, we identified three distinct, yet interrelated, subthemes, including the need for lactation spaces to be respectful of individuals' time, privacy, and general health and well-being. This study suggests that meeting basic lactation needs with thoughtfully designed lactation spaces can empower individuals in their roles both as a lactating parent and a clinician. EM leadership can evaluate existing lactation spaces to ensure they meet the tangible and intangible needs of lactating physicians, trainees, advanced practice professionals, and nurses.

Stanford Network for Advancement and Promotion: The impact of a community building-focused leadership development program on the success of underrepresented groups in academic medicine.

Leadership can be an isolating experience and leaders from underrepresented groups (URGs) may experience even greater isolation and vulnerability because of lack of representation. Given the collaborative nature of medicine, leadership programs for physicians need to address isolation. Social support is one mechanism to combat this isolation; however, most leadership programs focus exclusively on skills building. The Stanford Network for Advancement and Promotion (SNAP) program was developed to reduce isolation among physician leaders from URGs in academic medicine leadership by building a supportive network of peers. Ten women physicians from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds were invited to participate in SNAP. Annual surveys were administered to participants to assess the effectiveness of SNAP on decreasing feelings of isolation and increasing professional leadership growth. The authors charted the expansion and adaptation of the program model across gender and in additional settings. SNAP effectively created a sense of community among the physician leaders. Participants also reported feeling challenged by the program and that they had grown in terms of critical thinking, organizational knowledge, and empowerment as leaders. Participants found community building to be the most valuable program component. Because of this success, the SNAP model has been adapted to create 10 additional cohorts. Leadership programs like SNAP that focus on reducing isolation are instrumental for retaining and promoting the career advancement of physicians from URGs. Developing a diverse workforce of academic physicians is essential to providing high-quality and equitable clinical care, research, and medical education.

Perceptions of interventional cardiologists on diversity and discrimination.

There are limited data on diversity and discrimination against interventional cardiologists (ICs). We performed an online, anonymous, international survey of interventional cardiologists on their perceptions of diversity and discrimination in their field. A total of 445 ICs participated in the survey. The median age of participants was 46 to 50 years and most (60%) practice in the United States. Among the respondents, 13% identified as women, while 31% identified as Asian, 10% as Latino, and 3.2% as Black/African American. Women ICs were less likely to be married (62% vs 92%; P < .001) or have children (48% vs 87%; P < .001). Women, non-native English speakers, and non-white individuals had a higher likelihood of reporting discrimination from patients/families, peers, supervisors, support staff, and nursing staff, compared with men, native English speakers, and non-Hispanic white individuals, respectively. Women were less satisfied with the level of gender diversity in their workplace (25% vs 45%; P = .015) and were more likely to believe that women physicians have fewer opportunities in the field of IC compared with men (69% vs 35%; P < .001). Non-white individuals were more likely to believe that their race/ethnicity may impede the progress of their career (54% vs 15%; P < .001), that their race/ethnicity negatively impacted their fellowship prospects/acceptance (35% vs 11%; P < .001), and that their religion negatively impacted their fellowship prospects/acceptance (17% vs 4%; P = .003). Several participants (41%) expressed concerns that diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives might result in unintended consequences. Our survey suggests that ICs perceive high rates of discrimination in their field.

Unveiling the Obstacles Encountered by Women Doctors in thePakistani Healthcare System and what are the Initiatives toEncourage the Women to Come Forward in Health Care System

Unveiling the Obstacles Encountered by Women Doctors in thePakistani Healthcare System and what are the Initiatives toEncourage the Women to Come Forward in Health Care System

Unveiling the Obstacles Encountered by Women Doctors in thePakistani Healthcare System and what are the Initiatives toEncourage the Women to Come Forward in Health Care System

Unveiling the Obstacles Encountered by Women Doctors in thePakistani Healthcare System and what are the Initiatives toEncourage the Women to Come Forward in Health Care System

Inspiring and Preparing Our Future Leaders: Evaluating the Impact of the Early Career Women's Leadership Program.

The number of women in high-level leadership in academic medicine remains disproportionately low. Early career programs may help increase women's representation in leadership. We evaluated the Early Career Women's Leadership Program (ECWLP). We hypothesized that participants would rate themselves as having increased confidence in their leadership potential, improved leadership skills, and greater alignment between their goals for well-being and leading after the program. We also explored the participants' aspirations and confidence around pursuing high-level leadership before and after the program. We surveyed women physicians and scientists before and after they participated in the 2023 ECWLP, consisting of 11 seminars over six months. We analyzed pre- and post-program data using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. We analyzed answers to open-ended questions with a content analysis approach. 47/51 (92%) participants responded, and 74% answered pre- and post-program questionnaires. Several metrics increased after the program, including women's confidence in their ability to lead (p<0.001), negotiate (p<0.001), articulate their career vision (p<0.001), reframe obstacles (p<0.001), challenge their assumptions (p<0.001), and align their personal and professional values (p=0.002). Perceptions of conflict between aspiring to lead and having family responsibilities (p=0.003) and achieving physical well-being (p=0.002) decreased. Perceived barriers to advancement included not being part of influential networks, a lack of transparency in leadership, and a competitive and individualistic culture. In the qualitative analysis, women described balancing internal factors such as self-doubt with external factors like competing professional demands when considering leadership. Many believed that becoming a leader would be detrimental to their well-being. Beneficial ECWLP components included support for self-reflection, tactical planning to pursue leadership, and creating a safe environment. The ECWLP improved women's confidence and strategic plans to pursue leadership in a way that supported their work-life integration. Early career leadership programs may encourage and prepare women for high-level leadership.