Women surgeons and the emergence of acute care surgery programs

• Published in: The American journal of surgery Vol. 218; no. 4; pp. 803 - 808
• Main Authors: Oslock, Wendelyn M., Paredes, Anghela Z., Baselice, Holly E., Rushing, Amy P., Ingraham, Angela M., Collins, Courtney, Ricci, Kevin B., Daniel, Vijaya T., Diaz, Adrian, Heh, Victor M., Strassels, Scott A., Santry, Heena P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-10-2019; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Acute care surgery; Adult; Aged; Career Choice; Critical care; Emergency general surgery; Emergency medical services; Emergency Service, Hospital; Female; Hospitals; Humans; Medical personnel; Medical schools; Middle Aged; Physicians, Women; Polls & surveys; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Regression models; Representations; Specialties, Surgical; Surgeons; Surgery; Surveys and Questionnaires; Thoracic surgery; United States; Women surgeons; United States; United States > US; Acute care surgery; Women surgeons; Emergency general surgery
• ISSN: 0002-9610; 1879-1883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2019.07.008

In parallel to women entering general surgery training, acute care surgery (ACS) has been developing as a team-based approach to emergency general surgery (EGS). We sought to examine predictors of women surgeons in EGS generally, and ACS particularly.
From our national survey, we determined the proportion of women surgeons within EGS hospitals. We compared the proportion of women surgeons based on hospitals characteristics using chi-squared tests, then used regression models to measure odds of ACS relative to the proportion of women.
779 (50.4%) hospitals had zero women surgeons. These hospitals were more likely non-ACS and non-teaching with <200 beds. ACS had a higher median proportion of women surgeons (17%) compared to non-ACS (0%).
Our study highlights the dearth of women representation within EGS hospitals nationally and illuminates some of the underlying characteristics of ACS that may draw women: urban, academic, and staffed by more recently trained surgeons.
Using a national survey of Emergency General Surgery (EGS) hospitals, we sought to examine predictors of women surgeons in EGS generally, and acute care surgery (ACS) particularly. We found that 779 (50.4%) hospitals had zero women surgeons. Women were more likely to be among EGS surgeons at hospitals with ACS models. Our study highlights the dearth of women representation within EGS hospitals nationally and illuminates some of the underlying characteristics of ACS that may draw women: urban, academic, and staffed by a higher proportion of newly trained surgeons.
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•779 hospitals (50.4%) had zero women surgeons providing emergency general surgery care.•Hospitals with acute care surgery models for dedicated delivery had a higher representation of women.