TUESDAY, April 18, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- The view of surgery as an "old boys' club" and negative perceptions of the "surgical personality" may deter many women medical students from choosing surgery as a career, a U.S. study finds.
Background information in the article noted that more general surgeons will be needed in the United States in the future, but fewer medical students are entering surgery residencies. Currently, women account for about half of students entering medical school in the United States, and women have historically been less likely to choose surgery as a career.
Reporting in the April issue of the Archives of Surgery, researchers at the University of Vermont analyzed survey responses from 298 Vermont doctors and medical students.
Sixty-four percent of the male respondents and 53 percent of the female respondents said they'd been interested in a surgical career before their surgical rotation. They were asked to select the top three deterrents to a surgical career.
Here's what the study found:
Lifestyle concerns need to be addressed to attract both women and men to surgery, the study authors concluded.
"However, our results also suggest that there exists a male culture in surgery that needs to be confronted because it is a significant factor deterring women from a career in surgery. Surgery remains a 'macho field,'" they authors noted. "Surgeons need to critically assess the nature of their interactions with students, and provide an environment more conducive to women."
More information
The American Medical Student Association offers a close-up look at women surgeons.