1
|
Burgess S, Shaw E, Ellenberger KA, Segan L, Castles AV, Biswas S, Thomas L, Zaman S. Gender equity within medical specialties of Australia and New Zealand: cardiology's outlier status. Intern Med J 2021; 50:412-419. [PMID: 31211491 DOI: 10.1111/imj.14406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2019] [Revised: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 06/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gender disparity remains a prominent medical workforce issue, extending beyond surgical specialties with low proportions of female doctors. AIMS To examine female representation within Australia and New Zealand (NZ) among physician specialties and certain comparator surgical specialties with a focus on cardiology as an outlier of workforce gender equality. METHODS Data of practising medical specialists, new consultants and trainees were sought from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, the Medical Council of NZ and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (2015-2017). The stratified data pertaining to interventional cardiologists were obtained through direct contact with individual hospitals (from 2017 to 2018) and derived from state-based cardiac registries. RESULTS In Australia and NZ, there were fewer female practising adult medicine physician consultants (n = 8956, 32%, P < 0.001), with gender disparities seen across most physician specialties. Cardiology (15%) was the only physician specialty with <20% representation; gastroenterology (23%), neurology (27%) and respiratory medicine (29%) had <30% female representation at the consultant level. The rates of cardiology (15%) and interventional cardiology (5%) were similar to general surgery (15%) and orthopaedics (4%). Although more than half of physician trainees are female, and most physician specialties are approaching or have equal gender ratios at the trainee level, cardiology (23%) and interventional cardiology (9%) remain significantly underrepresented. CONCLUSIONS Cardiology is the only physician specialty with <20% female consultants, and this disparity is reflected throughout every stage of the cardiology training programme. Increased awareness and proactive strategies are needed to improve gender disparity within this underrepresented medical specialty.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sonya Burgess
- Department of Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Department of Cardiology, Nepean Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Elizabeth Shaw
- Department of Medicine, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Cardiology Department, Macquarie University Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Department of Cardiology, Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Louise Segan
- Department of Cardiology, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.,Clinical Research, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Anastasia V Castles
- Department of Cardiology, The Northern Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Sinjini Biswas
- Department of Cardiology, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Liza Thomas
- Department of Medicine, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Department of Cardiology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Sarah Zaman
- Monash Cardiovascular Research Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Monash Heart, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| |
Collapse
|