Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2019

Publication Title

Journal of Graduate Medical Education

Volume

11

Issue

5

Pages

565–569

Publisher Name

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

Abstract

Background

Despite specialty-driven efforts to improve diversity in the field, few women apply to orthopaedic residency, and women are unevenly distributed among programs. There is little evidence-based information on factors that may attract female applicants.

Objective

This study aims to identify factors important to applicants when evaluating orthopaedic residency programs and to identify gender-specific differences.

Methods

All applicants to a single orthopaedic surgery residency program in the 2017 Match were asked to fill out an anonymous survey. Respondents rated the importance of 35 factors when evaluating orthopaedic residency programs. The percentage of highly rated factors was calculated. Statistical analysis was performed for each factor to assess differences by gender.

Results

Of 1013 applicants who applied to orthopaedic surgery residency in 2017, 815 (80%) applied to our program, and 218 (27%) completed the survey. The most important factors when evaluating a residency program for both genders were (1) perceptions of current residents; (2) interactions with members of the program; (3) program reputation and fellowship placement; (4) geographic location; and (5) impressions after rotation at a program. Female applicants rated the presence of female and minority residents and faculty and program reputation for gender and racial/ethnic diversity higher than male applicants.

Conclusions

When choosing an orthopaedic surgery residency program, women more often reported the presence of female residents and faculty, program reputation for gender diversity, reputation for racial/ethnic diversity, presence of minority residents and faculty, and their personal interactions with members of the program as important factors.

Comments

Author Posting © Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for personal use. This article was published open access in Journal of Graduate Medical Education, Vol. 11, Iss. 5, pp.565–569, https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-18-01078.1

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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