The Future of Pediatric Surgery—Women and Part Time?
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Read the article on dx.doi.org ↗Article · Feb 2022 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
Survey of 195 German pediatric surgeons reveals a significant shift toward part-time work and increasing female representation in the specialty. Currently 66% work full-time, but 49% of consultants and 24% of trainees plan to transition to part-time roles, with one-third of aspiring department heads also seeking reduced schedules.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Introduction Working conditions are changing rapidly in medicine. We analyzed the actual work situation and future plans in the next 5 years and in the long term.
Materials and Methods A survey among the members of the German Society of Pediatric Surgery was performed asking how and where physicians work now and how and where they want to work in the future.
Results Five hundred twelve questionnaires were sent out, and 195 colleagues answered the questionnaire (99 women, 94 men, and 2 of unknown gender). Among them, 27% were trainees, 16% were fully trained pediatric surgeons, 6% were senior physicians, and 50% were consultants, while 66% worked full time, 25% worked part time, and 8% did not work in pediatric surgery. In the future, 49% of consultants and 24% of the trainees wanted to work part time. Among the 73 participants who wanted to become a department head, 33% of them also wanted to work part time.
Conclusion Pediatric surgery is changing toward a discipline with many female doctors and people working part time. Leaders in pediatric surgery should be aware of this development to adapt their working conditions to reality.