Sonya Burgess1,2, Elizabeth Shaw3,4,5, Katherine A Ellenberger2, Louise Segan6,7, Anastasia V Castles8, Sinjini Biswas9,10, Liza Thomas3,11, Sarah Zaman12,13. 1. Department of Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 2. Department of Cardiology, Nepean Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 3. Department of Medicine, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 4. Cardiology Department, Macquarie University Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 5. Department of Cardiology, Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 6. Department of Cardiology, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. 7. Clinical Research, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 8. Department of Cardiology, The Northern Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 9. Department of Cardiology, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 10. School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 11. Department of Cardiology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 12. Monash Cardiovascular Research Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 13. Monash Heart, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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.
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.
Authors: Laura Banks; Varinder K Randhawa; Jessica Caterini; Tracey J F Colella; Savita Dhanvantari; Sean McMurtry; Kim A Connelly; Lisa Robinson; Sonia S Anand; Maral Ouzounian; Shelley Zieroth; Susanna Mak; Sharon Straus; Michelle M Graham Journal: CJC Open Date: 2020-07-02
Authors: Dominic Millenaar; Markus Dillmann; Tobias Fehlmann; Alexander Flohr; Roxana Mehran; Rasha Al-Lamee; Lucas Lauder; Christian Ukena; Michael Böhm; Andreas Keller; Felix Mahfoud Journal: J Am Heart Assoc Date: 2021-10-11 Impact factor: 6.106