WOMEN IN MEDICAL SCHOOL'S PERCEPTIONS OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY: A PILOT STUDY

Orthopaedic surgery is historically a male-dominated specialty in medicine. Although the percentage of women entering the field has increased over time, it continues to lag behind other specialties. This poses a problem as diversity is crucial to both patient care and generating innovation within the field. The purpose of this study is to determine how women in medical school perceive orthopaedic surgery, the barriers to entering the field, and if early exposure to the specialty affects their views. It is hypothesized that holding a women-run orthopaedic workshop and symposium will influence students' perceptions of the specialty. Institutional ethics was acquired prior to the onset of the study. First and second year medical students, who identified as women, were invited to participate. After obtaining informed consent, all participants completed a short survey on their perceptions of orthopaedic surgery. Students then had the opportunity to participate in two activities. The first involved a women-run workshop which included instruction on basic fracture fixation with hands-on experience in a simulated setting. Three weeks following the workshop, a symposium was held to discuss the experiences of women in the field and provide students the opportunity to ask questions about the specialty. Following the two activities, students completed the same survey to re-evaluate their perceptions of the field. Data was then reviewed and analyzed. Pre- and post-workshop questionnaires were evaluated using a paired analysis to determine if exposure to orthopaedic surgery affected their perception and interest in the field. Significance was set at p < 0.05. Seven medical students participated in the pilot year of this study. All participants completed both the pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. Significant changes were seen in the paired analysis between the pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. Specifically, 85.7% participants reported that the “boys club” culture was a barrier to entering the field in the pre-intervention questionnaire, compared to only 14.3% in the post (p = .025). Similarly, the male-dominated nature of the profession and the lack of support for family planning and/or pregnancy were reported significantly less as barriers in the post-intervention survey. Lastly, 57.1% of participants reported that they would consider a career in orthopaedic surgery prior to the interventions, which increased to 85.7% of participants following; however, this change was not significantly different (p = .157). The results of this study suggest that many of the barriers that women perceive when considering a career in orthopaedic surgery may be modifiable with experience. By providing an inclusive environment for students to explore the field, students' perceptions of the specialty changed and their interest increased. Although it is difficult to generalize these results due to the small sample size, this pilot study confirmed that outreach events may present a beneficial strategy to help increase diversity within the specialty. However, further research and larger sample sizes are required to gain a greater understanding of the effects of these interventions to help increase the diversity of the field.