Ryan Casey A, Sciscent Bao Y, Bhanja Debarati, Tucker Jacqueline, Daggubati Lekhaj C
Department of Neurosurgery, Penn State Health, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Neurosurgery, Penn State Health, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.
World Neurosurg. 2023 Jan;169:52-56. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2022.10.091. Epub 2022 Oct 30.
The residency program director (PD) position is a valued leadership appointment in academic medicine. PDs are responsible for the success of their program and its residents. The objective of this study is to provide a cross-sectional analysis of baseline demographics and academic backgrounds of current neurosurgery program directors.
Data was compiled on neurosurgery PDs and their residency programs, as of the end of May 2021, using publicly available resources including Doximity, FREIDA, and Healthgrades. The Mann-Whitney and Fisher exact tests were used for statistical analysis.
Of 113 PDs identified, 91.15% are male (P < 0.01). The majority of PDs (88.5%) received their medical degrees from U.S. medical schools. The average age of current PDs is 54 years, and the average age at appointment was 48 years. Compared to their male counterparts, female PDs are more likely to be younger at appointment (41 vs. 48 years; P = 0.001) and while holding the same position (45 vs. 55 years; P = 0.001). As a result, female PDs experience less time to appointment after residency (8.6 years vs. 14.7 years, P = 0.013). There are no significant differences regarding the gender of the PD and university affiliation, current appointment, completion of a fellowship, and resident gender ratios.
The position of neurosurgery residency PD is dominated by fellowship-trained men in their late 40s to 50s. The gender ratio of neurosurgery residents is consistent with the underrepresentation of women in this position. With increasing female representation in neurosurgery, more women may assume this leadership position and begin to hasten the gender balance.
住院医师培训项目主任（PD）一职是学术医学领域备受重视的领导职务。PD 对其项目及其住院医师的成功负责。本研究的目的是对当前神经外科项目主任的基线人口统计学和学术背景进行横断面分析。
截至 2021 年 5 月底，利用包括 Doximity、FREIDA 和 Healthgrades 在内的公开可用资源，收集了神经外科 PD 及其住院医师培训项目的数据。采用 Mann-Whitney 检验和 Fisher 精确检验进行统计分析。
在确定的 113 名 PD 中，91.15%为男性（P < 0.01）。大多数 PD（88.5%）毕业于美国医学院校。现任 PD 的平均年龄为 54 岁，任职时的平均年龄为 48 岁。与男性同行相比，女性 PD 在任职时年龄更小（41 岁对 48 岁；P = 0.001），且担任相同职位时年龄也更小（45 岁对 55 岁；P = 0.001）。因此，女性 PD 在完成住院医师培训后到任职的时间更短（8.6 年对 14.7 年，P = 0.013）。PD 的性别与大学附属关系、当前任职、完成专科培训以及住院医师性别比例之间没有显著差异。
神经外科住院医师培训项目 PD 职位由 40 多岁至 50 多岁接受过专科培训的男性主导。神经外科住院医师的性别比例与该职位女性代表性不足的情况一致。随着神经外科领域女性代表性的增加，更多女性可能会担任这一领导职务并开始加速性别平衡。
