Gender more than ethnicity or disability influences the choice of a career in cardiothoracic surgery by United Kingdom medical students.

Autor: Gnanalingham S; Division of Surgery and Interventional Sciences, UCL Medical School, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: sathyangnanalingham.19@ucl.ac.uk., Bhatti F; Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Swansea Bay University Health Board, United Kingdom., Sayeed R; Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The surgeon : journal of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Ireland [Surgeon] 2024 Oct; Vol. 22 (5), pp. 286-289. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 18.
DOI: 10.1016/j.surge.2024.06.002
Abstrakt: Objectives: Cardiothoracic surgery has reported poor equality, diversity, and inclusion amongst its faculty [1-3]. We explored how gender, ethnicity, and disability influence medical students' interest in cardiothoracic surgery as a career choice, as well as overall exposure to cardiothoracic surgery in the undergraduate curriculum.
Methods: We distributed a 26-item Google Forms online survey to student members of a medical education group from all 37 UK medical schools via social media. Respondents were asked to rank different 'factors of interest' on a 1-5 Likert scale (1 ​= ​not important at all, 5 ​= ​very important) and were encouraged to add free-text comments. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS.
Results: There were 258 respondents, 62% identifying as female and 38% male. Respondents' ethnicities were 45% White, 44% Asian or Asian British, and 11% from other ethnic groups. 11% of respondents confirmed 'long-standing illness or disability'. Men were almost twice as likely to consider a career in cardiothoracic surgery than women (33% vs 19%; p ​< ​0.001). Women were more likely than men to feel that their gender, lack of a similarly gendered mentor, and long working hours were important factors when considering cardiothoracic surgery as a career. Ethnicity of the respondent did not appear to affect how they perceived the challenges of a career in cardiothoracic surgery. Interestingly, 'long-standing illness or disability' did not significantly affect the decision making to consider this specialty as a career. Overall, 73% of respondents reported not having adequate exposure to cardiothoracic surgery at medical school and agreed they would benefit from more time.
Conclusions: Female medical students felt their gender, lack of same-sex role models, and perceived long working hours were barriers in considering cardiothoracic surgery as a career. All students felt the need for more exposure to Cardiothoracic Surgery in the undergraduate curriculum.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None.
(Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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