Trending diversity: Reviewing four-decades of graduating fellows and the current leadership in pediatric surgery
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Read the article on jpedsurg.org ↗Article · Dec 2020 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
Retrospective analysis of 1,217 pediatric surgery fellows (1981-2018) demonstrates significant progress in workforce diversity, with female graduates increasing from 16.9% to 39.5% and notable gains across all nonwhite racial groups. Despite these advances in fellowship training, current leadership remains predominantly white and male, highlighting the need for enhanced mentorship pipelines.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Abstract
Purpose
Diversity in the physician workforce remains a priority in healthcare as it has been shown to improve outcomes. Decisions for choosing specific fields in medicine are partly influenced by mentors, which tend to be the same sex or ethnicity. Females are starting to outnumber males in medical school and minorities are targeted for recruitment. We hypothesized that diversity in pediatric surgery has increased over time.
Methods
The recently published A Genealogy of North American Pediatric Surgery was utilized to identify graduating pediatric surgery fellows from 1981 to 2018. Organization websites were used to identify past and current leaders. A web-based analysis, including online facial recognition software, was performed. A year-to-year and decade-to-decade demographic comparison was completed.
Results
1217 pediatric surgery fellows graduated between 1981 and 2018. When comparing graduates from the first and last decades, an increase from 16.9% to 39.5% for female graduates was observed (p = 0.046). A significant increase in nonwhite graduates was seen for all races (p < 0.05). Representation in leadership was White and male dominant.
Conclusion
There was a significant increase in diversity in pediatric surgery fellowship graduates. There were increasing trends in female graduates and all nonwhite racial groups. Focusing on enhancing the pipeline and mentoring underrepresented minorities will continue to enhance this trend for the field of pediatric surgery.
Level of Evidence
III; Retrospective Review.