Elsevier

Journal of Surgical Education

Volume 76, Issue 6, November–December 2019, Pages e132-e137
Journal of Surgical Education

2019 APDS SPRING MEETING
Investigating Gender Differences in Faculty Evaluations by Trainees in a Gender-Balanced General Surgery Program

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2019.06.007Get rights and content

Purpose

Women account for 21% of faculty positions in general surgery. In fields with lower female representation, female faculty receive lower evaluation scores by trainees compared to male faculty. At 42%, the female faculty representation in our general surgery department doubles the national average. We sought to determine if variations in faculty evaluations would be observed in a more gender-balanced general surgery program.

Methods

Two years of faculty teaching evaluations by residents in a general surgery residency program were collected from the MedHub system. Total 3277 resident evaluations of 26 faculty members (11 female, 15 male) were analyzed. Seven areas (scored 1-7, with 1 = needs improvement and 7 = outstanding) were examined. Chi-square test was used to compare the percentage of male and female faculty members who scored a 6 or 7 in each category, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association of gender with the evaluation score, while adjusting for the number of encounters between the trainee and the faculty member.

Results

There were no significant differences between male and female faculty in the “overall” evaluation score, nor in the “practice-based learning” and the “interpersonal and communication skills” categories. Female faculty had statistically significantly higher scores in “patient care”, “professionalism,” and “systems-based care” categories, whereas male faculty had higher evaluations in the “medical knowledge” category.

Conclusion

In a general surgery residency program with a relatively gender-balanced faculty, there was no gender difference in the “overall” evaluation of faculty by residents. However, there were gender differences in specific domains. These findings suggest that gender balance in teaching faculty may help eliminate previously observed teaching evaluation bias in the traditionally male dominated fields.

Section snippets

INTRODUCTION

Teaching evaluations from both medical students and residents are a vital component of career advancement for faculty, as these evaluations affect retention, tenure, and promotion.1, 2, 3 Prior research has shown that medical student evaluations are biased against female gender, particularly in surgery.4 The reason for this bias is unclear; however, there appears to be an association with the proportions of women within a given specialty. In specialties with a high percentage of women faculty,

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study was deemed exempt from human research by our institutional review board. Two years (from August, 2016 to September, 2018) of faculty teaching evaluations by residents in a general surgery residency program were collected from the MedHub system. Medhub is a web-based residency management system. Part of this system allows for evaluations of faculty by trainees. Evaluations of faculty by residents within the MedHub system are anonymous. The department chair, program director

RESULTS

During the study period, there were a total of 3277 resident evaluations of the 26 faculty (Table 2). We reviewed a total of 1621 evaluations of female faculty (with range 13-333 evaluations per faculty member) and a total of 1656 evaluations of male faculty (with range 18-309 evaluations per faculty member). We adjusted for the number of encounters in order to minimize selection bias for those with very few (fewest = “Female 3” with 13 evaluations) or very many (“Female 7” with 333

DISCUSSION

This single institution, 2-year, retrospective study sought to determine whether there were gender differences in faculty evaluations by residents. Our program has a relatively high proportion of female faculty as compared to national averages. The study found that teaching evaluations were overall very positive, and there was no significant gender difference in evaluations with respect to “Overall value to training.” However, within subcategories of the 6 ACGME competencies, women had

CONCLUSION

In a general surgery residency program with a relatively gender-balanced faculty, there was no gender difference in the overall evaluation of faculty by residents. However, there were gender differences in specific domains. These findings suggest that gender balance in teaching faculty may help eliminate previously observed teaching evaluation bias in the traditionally male dominated fields. Future multi-institutional studies are needed to further investigate if similar findings persist amongst

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Presented at the APDS Meeting: Thursday, April 25 in Chicago, IL.

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