Emily J. M. Monroe, MD, of Heartland Orthopedic Specialists co-authored a study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery examining the gender disparity in orthopedics.
Dr. Monroe and her colleagues Caitlin Chambers, MD, Stephanie Ihnow, MD, and Linda Suleiman, MD, studied the number of women in the orthopedic field, as well as the number of women participating in orthopedic surgery residencies. They used data from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Association of American Medical Colleges from 2005 to 2006, and 2016 to2017.
The key details to know:
1. Orthopedic surgery has the lowest percentage of female residents at 14 percent in the 2016 to 2017 academic year.
2. Only 17.8 percent of full-time orthopedic medical faculty are women, lower than any other specialty.
3. Orthopedic specialty societies had the lowest female membership rates of any specialty.
"We concluded that orthopedic surgery has seen a slow increase in the overall number of female residents and female members of academic faculty. The rate of that increase has remained slower than rising female participation rates in other specialty fields," Dr. Monroe said. "We want to encourage efforts to ensure equity of opportunity and mentorship for women in orthopedics. We believe this can help ensure that the field continues to attract the nation's top medical graduates."