[Supporting career development of female physicians and researchers].

The proportion of female doctors among younger generations has increased in recent years, and support for reemployment after childbirth and childcare leave is important for maintaining stability of local healthcare. We conducted a questionnaire with doctors in the Department of Pediatrics at Ehime University School of Medicine and it's affiliated hospitals to identify issues in the career development of female doctors. Although many female physicians want to pursue career development by obtaining subspecialty qualifications and PhD degrees, a high percentage have not actually obtained them. This is not only due to interruptions in work caused by childbirth and childcare but also because they are busy with housework, childcare, and daily work, and lack sufficient information about career development. In this regard, it appears that beyond improving work-life balance, female doctors must always keep in mind their career design and future goals, as well as their social mission as a physician. For administrators of these departments, acceptance of diversity, providing adequate support for female physicians to return to work after maternity/childcare leave, and balancing childcare and work are important for expanding female doctors' opportunities and career development.

[Building a future society that helps female scientists and physicians thrive].

Japan is now at a major historical turning point with its shrinking population. While conventional wisdom is no longer applicable, we have an excellent opportunity for a new social transformation. Promoting diversity is an effective way to achieve this, but this requires recognition of the intergenerational gap in diversity. The medical community has its own unique problems, but also broader problems shared with other fields. In medicine specifically, there is an urgent need to improve the working environment of physicians and realize sustainable medicine and patient-centered care. To solve these problems, reforms are needed that encompass not only the medical community, but also the entire citizenry as patients. More broadly, the main issue is the promotion and development of women leaders. We must refer to examples in Europe and the United States, and implement reforms in work styles. The medical community, which solves the essential problem of maintaining and improving human health, is well positioned to create a new society that coexists with artificial intelligence based on scientific evidence to ensure a bright future beyond this historical turning point.

Breaking barriers: Addressing gender disparity in neurosurgery.

Neurosurgery is still dominated by men, with only 16.7% of neurosurgeons being women and even fewer in leadership roles. This disparity affects research, patient care, and health policy. To enhance care and equity, addressing barriers for women through targeted mentorship, inclusive practices, and policy changes is essential. CORRESPONDENCE: Despite significant progress in medical education and practice, neurosurgery remains a male-dominated specialty. This gender disparity is not merely a reflection of societal biases but a systemic issue that affects both the professional advancement of women and the quality of care delivered to patients. As the global health community strives for equity, the underrepresentation of women in neurosurgery demands urgent attention.

Workforce Diversity and Equity Among Critical Care Physicians.

Health disparities persist among minoritized populations. A diverse clinician workforce may help address these disparities and improve patient outcomes; however, diversity in the critical are workforce (particularly among women and those historically underrepresented in medicine (URiM)) is lacking. This review describes factors contributing to low respresentation of women and URiM in critical care medicine, and proposes strategies to overcome those barriers.

The Landscape of Pain Medicine for Women Physicians: A Perspective.

BACKGROUND: The gender bias in academic anesthesiology is well known. Women are not only a minority in the field but also underrepresented in leadership positions. Reported reasons for this underrepresentation include barriers to career advancement, lack of mentorship, and differences in compensation, among others. Interventional pain, a competitive procedural subspecialty of anesthesiology, sees the trickle-down effects of this disparity. According to a report from the ACGME that sorted medical subspecialties by number of female trainees, pain medicine ranked in the bottom quartile across all disciplines from 2008-2016. OBJECTIVES: To better understand the landscape for women physicians in the field of pain medicine, we undertook this investigation to review the knowledge about the topic and what questions remain unanswered. STUDY DESIGN: This study is a review of the current literature and aims to summarize and describe the landscape of pain medicine for women physicians. SETTING: All literature review and manuscript preparation took place at the Yale University School of Medicine. METHODS: We performed a comprehensive search using the PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases for the combined terms "gender disparity," "pain medicine," and "anesthesiology," limiting our search to the year 2000 onward for the most recent literature on the topic. Our initial search retrieved 38 articles. All relevant articles pertaining to this perspective piece were collated. The available literature is discussed below. RESULTS: Women are underrepresented in interventional pain. The grim scarcity of female pain physicians is unlikely to improve soon, since while the number of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education pain fellowship programs continues to grow, women trainees comprise only between 22-25% of all pain medicine fellows. Additionally, although studies have compared the numbers of male interventional pain faculty to their female counterparts in academic hospitals and shown the ratio to range from 71.84-82% to 18-28.52%, respectively, no studies have truly explored the landscape for women physicians in private practice. Patients prefer and have better experiences with physicians who are racially and ethnically like themselves. In fact, the preference for and the lack of female clinicians have been associated with delayed pursuit of care and adverse health outcomes. The consequences of the burnout and attrition caused by the gender disparity, especially in a field like pain medicine, cannot be understate. LIMITATIONS: The review might not have been comprehensive, and relevant studies might not have been included. CONCLUSION: While the gender disparity in academia is well documented for both anesthesiology and pain medicine, the reasons for this disparity have not been fully explored. Moreover, it is also unknown whether the minority of female physicians who select pain medicine as a subspecialty gravitate toward an academic or a private-practice path. To address the existing gender disparity, it is necessary to explore the landscape of interventional pain medicine in both academic and private practices and understand pain physicians' beliefs and sentiments regarding their subspecialty.

Women in Dermatology: Considerations over Their Recognition and Prominence.

According to the Federal Council of Medicine's demographic data from 2020, the medical specialty with the highest number of women is dermatology; with 77.9% within the total of 9,078 specialists. The male/female ratio is 0.28, that is, for each man, there are more than 3 women Dermatologists. Analyze the participation of women in Brazilian dermatology and their representation in leadership positions through data review. A literature review of the National Library of Medicine PubMed database was performed in May 2022 and data review of the SBD database. According to the Brazilian Society of Dermatology (SBD), about 80% of its associated Doctors are women. Despite this correlation, since its foundation in 1912, the SBD has already had 62 directorates, of which 53 were known to be presided over by men and 4 of them are unknown. Among the directorates that are known, only five (8.62%) were chaired by women.

Analysis of Gender Discrepancies in Leadership Roles and Recognition Awards in the Child Neurology Society.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Gender disparities have been demonstrated across several medical specialties, including neurology. Although women have comprised most of the child neurology trainees since 2007, it is not apparent whether this demographic shift is reflected in the Child Neurology Society (CNS) awards and leadership. This study aimed to evaluate the differences in gender representation among leadership positions and award recipients within the CNS. The primary outcome measure was the total number of board of director (BOD) positions or awards given by gender each year. METHODS: A retrospective review of publicly available data was conducted on CNS members, post-training award recipients, and BOD positions, including nomination records, from 1972 to 2023. Data abstracted were restricted to gender to preserve member and nominee anonymity. Gender identification and consensus were determined through a combination of strategies and study members. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson χ2 test, and the exact binomial test to compare gender proportions and the probability of being underrepresented in awards, leadership, and nominations over time. Data are presented according to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. RESULTS: From 1972 to 2023, women represented 29% (44/152) of the BOD positions and 26% (61/236) of post-training award recipients presented by the CNS. Despite the increase in the proportion of women in child neurology, the overall gap in gender representation in leadership positions remains broadly stable. Only 13% (4/32) of CNS presidents have been women, a significant underrepresentation (95% CI 2.3%-52%, p < 0.004), although the representation of women in nonpresidential positions increased from 2003 to 2023. Women are also underrepresented as overall awardees (95% CI 12%-38%, p < 0.00001) except for the Philip R. Dodge Young Investigator Award, which is an investigator-initiated application. DISCUSSION: Women remain underrepresented at the highest levels of recognition in child neurology despite representing most of the field. Reasons for disparities are known to be multifactorial and likely include gender bias and structural sexism. We present several discussion topics that seek to rationalize this disparity and provide suggestions for improving diversity, equity, and inclusion for leadership roles and awards.

Female vet surgeons who run: it's something in our mindset that makes us succeed!

Refusing to be thwarted, Ceri Stewart's third attempt to get into vet school succeeded; her determination has also driven her to enter ultramarathons and she is facing her biggest challenge yet: the Dragon's Back Race.

[A Local Gender Equality Plan - A Modern Human Resources Development Tool]. / Entwicklung eines Gleichstellungsplans.

The implementation of equal opportunities is a challenge for the staff of an anaesthesia department. At the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Hannover Medical School, a local Gender Equality plan has been implemented to create a secure and transparent framework for reconciling scientific and clinical careers with family responsibilities. Today, family and career should be equally compatible for men and women. Unfortunately, in medical professions it is often still an either/or decision. At the same time, it is important to offer an attractive workplace in view of the increasing shortage of qualified staff. In order to provide equal opportunities for all employees and to increase satisfaction, it is necessary for employers to address the issues of equality and work-life balance, to identify challenges and to create structures for improvement.

Competence over confidence: uncovering lower self-efficacy for women residents during central venous catheterization training.

BACKGROUND: While women make up over 50% of students enrolled in medical school, disparities in self-efficacy of medical skills between men and women have been observed throughout medical education. This difference is significant because low self-efficacy can impact learning, achievement, and performance, and thus create gender-confidence gaps. Simulation-based training (SBT) employs assessments of self-efficacy, however, the Dunning-Kruger effect in self-assessment posits that trainees often struggle to recognize their skill level. Additionally, the impact of gender on self-efficacy during SBT has not been as widely studied. The objective of this study was to identify if the gender-confidence gap and the Dunning-Kruger effect exist in SBT for central venous catheterization (CVC) on the dynamic haptic robotic trainer (DHRT) utilizing comparisons of self-efficacy and performance. METHODS: 173 surgical residents (Nwomen=61, Nmen=112) underwent training on the DHRT system over two years. Before and after using the DHRT, residents completed a 14-item Central Line Self-Efficacy survey (CLSE). During training on the DHRT, CVC performance metrics of the number of insertion attempts, backwall puncture, and successful venipuncture were also collected. The pre- and post-CLSE, DHRT performance and their relationship were compared between men and women. RESULTS: General estimating equation results indicated that women residents were significantly more likely to report lower self-efficacy for 9 of the 14 CLSE items (p < .0035). Mann-Whitney U and Fisher's exact tests showed there were no performance differences between men and women for successfully accessing the vein on the DHRT. Regression models relating performance and self-efficacy found no correlation for either gender. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that despite receiving the same SBT and performing at the same level, the gender-confidence gap exists in CVC SBT, and the Dunning-Kruger effect may also be evident.

The journey of female surgeons in the arab region: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: In the Arab region, there's a dearth of research on female surgeons' experiences and challenges. To address this gap, a scoping review aims to map existing literature. It seeks to understand the hurdles faced by female surgeons in Arab countries and examine any gender biases in public preferences for surgeons. No previous reviews were conducted on female surgeons in the Arab region. By identifying systemic barriers, the review aims to promote inclusivity and support for female surgeons in the Arab medical community. METHODS: A scoping review was performed and reported using the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. Five databases were searched which include PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and ProQuest. The search strategy included three main strings that are "Women" AND "Surgeons" AND "Arab Country". A priori-identified spreadsheet was used for data extraction. RESULTS: A total number of 23 studies were included in this review. The findings were categorized under several headings, such as the general public's preferred gender of surgeon and well-being, challenges, and experiences of female surgeons as well as career perspectives, choices, and satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review explores experiences and challenges faced by female surgeons in the Arab region, emphasizing the need to address systemic barriers and promote inclusivity.

Zahra TAATI ASIL The first Iranian Woman Neurosurgeon.

It is crucial to promote the role of women in surgery, particularly in the field of neurosurgery, which is still predominantly male-dominated. Without recognition and support, these talented and pioneering women may continue to be overlooked, despite their significant contributions to the field. One such remarkable woman is Professor Zahra Taati Asil, the first female Iranian neurosurgeon. Born in 1954 in Iran, she graduated from medical school in Tehran in 1978 with a degree in General Medicine. After completing her studies at the Medical School of the Melli University in 1983, she became the first female Iranian neurosurgeon and was promoted to assistant professor. She held this position for 14 years and during this time, she operated on numerous war-wounded patients during the Iran-Iraq war. Her exceptional surgical skills earned her the nickname "The Golden Hands Surgeon" at Nirou-y-Entezami Hospital, where she had an impressively low rate of postoperative complications. Despite her professional competence, she was never promoted to associate professor, due to reasons beyond her surgical and academic skills. The dean of the university opposed Zahra's appointment as an associate professor and told her that if she were to be appointed as a professor, the Ministry of Health would separate men and women. He also warned her that the Islamists would only send women to her. She has retired but remains actively involved in both clinical and academic work.

Suicide rates among physicians compared with the general population in studies from 20 countries: gender stratified systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate age standardised suicide rate ratios in male and female physicians compared with the general population, and to examine heterogeneity across study results. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Studies published between 1960 and 31 March 2024 were retrieved from Embase, Medline, and PsycINFO. There were no language restrictions. Forward and backwards reference screening was performed for selected studies using Google Scholar. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Observational studies with directly or indirectly age standardised mortality ratios for physician deaths by suicide, or suicide rates per 100 000 person years of physicians and a reference group similar to the general population, or extractable data on physician deaths by suicide suitable for the calculation of ratios. Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed the risk of bias using an adapted version of the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for prevalence studies. Mean effect estimates for male and female physicians were calculated based on random effects models, with subgroup analyses for geographical region and a secondary analysis of deaths by suicide in physicians compared with other professions. RESULTS: Among 39 included studies, 38 studies for male physicians and 26 for female physicians were eligible for analyses, with a total of 3303 suicides in male physicians and 587 in female physicians (observation periods 1935-2020 and 1960-2020, respectively). Across all studies, the suicide rate ratio for male physicians was 1.05 (95% confidence interval 0.90 to 1.22). For female physicians, the rate ratio was significantly higher at 1.76 (1.40 to 2.21). Heterogeneity was high for both analyses. Meta-regression revealed a significant effect of the midpoint of study observation period, indicating decreasing effect sizes over time. The suicide rate ratio for male physicians compared with other professions was 1.81 (1.55 to 2.12). CONCLUSION: Standardised suicide rate ratios for male and female physicians decreased over time. However, the rates remained increased for female physicians. The findings of this meta-analysis are limited by a scarcity of studies from regions outside of Europe, the United States, and Australasia. These results call for continued efforts in research and prevention of physician deaths by suicide, particularly among female physicians and at risk subgroups. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42019118956.