Mentorship and orthopaedic resident subspecialty selection

Objective: Subspecialty training is an important component of orthopaedic training, and mentorship is known to hold a significant role in subspecialty selection. The objective is to investigate mentorship via the relationship between the presence of female faculty in a subspecialty and the subspecialty fellowship pursuits of female residents within that program. Methods: Graduates and faculty from ACGME-accredited orthopaedic surgery residency programs were identified. Gender and subspecialty/fellowship were collected for all individuals. Residency program locations were stratified into four regions based on state: Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. To compare these categorical variables, chi-square analysis was used. Results: Of 2,151 orthopaedic faculty, 279 (13%) were female. Of 1,423 orthopaedic residency alumni, 209 (15%) were female. Pediatrics had the highest proportion of female faculty (35%) and female alumni (67%), while spine had the least female faculty (5%) and female alumni (5%). Of all female residency graduates, the most highly selected subspecialty was hand (29%). There was a significant relationship between overall female alumni subspecialty choice and the pursuit of subspecialties in which there was at least 1 female faculty at their home institution ( P <0.001). Conclusions: This study suggests that gender-based mentorship impacts subspecialty selection as a significant relationship exists between female subspecialty selection and the proportion of female faculty in that subspecialty. Overall, this study highlights the impact of gender diversity within the field orthopaedic surgery and its effects on future orthopaedic surgeons.