Trends in Race and Sex Representation Among Entering Orthopaedic Surgery Residents: A Continued Call for Active Diversification Efforts
J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2023 June 15;31(12):e530-e539. Doi: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-22-01007.
This study analyzes the diversity of surgical subspecialties and found that in the surgical subspecialty of Orthopaedics, female representation in growth at 9.2% lags behind the 16.3% increase in overall female representation for all of surgical subspecialties during the studies time frame. Improvement in racial diversity was found to have been less successful.
The study emphasized “improving the recruitment of a diverse class of trainees is necessary and will require acknowledging the importance of both racial and sex representation diversity metrics.” The below graph highlights that without intentional efforts to improve the recruitment of females into Orthopaedic surgery, the field will not achieve equal representation of males and females for nearly 100 years.
Graph depicting a line of best fit, based on data from 2001 to 2020, estimating that achieving an Orthopaedic class of equal distribution of males and females will not occur until the year 2102.
Limitations of this study identified that entering Orthopaedic surgery residency class statistics will require “a more timely surrogate” as this number is influenced by Orthopaedic resident attritional changes in the studied race and sex metrics.
Linda Suleiman, MD featured in above pictures
Gladden Member, Linda Suleiman, MD, is an Associate Professor in the department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Medical Education at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, a Gladden Member, in the Presidential Line of RJOS, and member of the Women Orthopaedist Global Outreach (WOGO). She is the first Black woman to graduate from Northwestern University’s Orthopaedic Residency. While working as faculty at Northwestern University, Dr. Suleiman serves as the Associate Dean of Medical Education and Director of Diversity and Inclusion for Graduate Medical Education.
