Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Phys Sportsmed. 2021 May;49(2):219-222. doi: 10.1080/00913847.2020.1811065. Epub 2020 Aug 26.
Female physicians are underrepresented across a broad range of medical specialties, especially at senior levels. Previous research demonstrated poor representation of women in sports medicine leadership roles in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) compared to their male colleagues.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution of men and women among team physicians on the medical staffs of National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) teams in the last 10 years and assess regional differences in representation of female physicians.
A Google search of publicly available data regarding team physician gender, medical specialty, and medical degree was conducted in October 2019 for team physicians in the NBA and WNBA over the last 10 years. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. This data was then stratified by physician specialty and region of country in which NBA/WNBA franchises are located to provide regional comparison of team physician characteristics.
We identified 125 team physicians for NBA franchises. Of these, 122 (97.6%) were male and 3 (2.4%) were female. In the WNBA, a total of 28 physicians were identified. 20 (71.4%) were male and 8 (28.6%) were female. The Northeast had the highest proportion of female team physicians, with 5 of 18 (27.8%). Female physicians were represented in the remaining geographic regions as follows: 3 of 41 (7.3%) in the Midwest, 2 of 45 (4.4%) in the South, and 1 of 48 (2.1%) in the West.
This study demonstrates a substantial difference in the number of female physicians with leadership roles in both the NBA and WNBA compared to male physicians. It is important to try to understand what barriers female physicians face in their pursuit of upper level positions in sports medicine and to implement strategies to provide equal opportunities to both male and female physicians.
女性医生在广泛的医学专业中代表性不足，尤其是在高级别职位上。先前的研究表明，与男性同事相比，女性在全国大学体育协会（NCAA）的运动医学领导职位中的代表性较差。
本研究旨在评估过去 10 年 NBA 和 WNBA 球队医务人员中男女医生在团队医生中的分布情况，并评估女性医生代表人数的地区差异。
2019 年 10 月，通过谷歌搜索公开可用的数据，对过去 10 年 NBA 和 WNBA 球队医生的性别、专业和医学学位进行了搜索。使用描述性统计分析数据。然后根据医生的专业和 NBA/WNBA 特许经营权所在的国家/地区进行分层，以提供团队医生特征的区域比较。
我们确定了 NBA 特许经营权的 125 名团队医生。其中，122 名（97.6%）为男性，3 名（2.4%）为女性。在 WNBA 中，共确定了 28 名医生。其中 20 名（71.4%）为男性，8 名（28.6%）为女性。东北地区的女性团队医生比例最高，18 名中有 5 名（27.8%）。其余地理区域的女性医生分布情况如下：中西部地区有 3 名（7.3%），南部地区有 2 名（4.4%），西部地区有 1 名（2.1%）。
本研究表明，在 NBA 和 WNBA 中，拥有领导角色的女性医生数量与男性医生相比存在显著差异。重要的是，要尝试了解女性医生在追求运动医学高级职位时面临的障碍，并实施策略，为男女医生提供平等机会。
