Background: Female trainees continue to be underrepresented in surgical specialties. Studies have shown lower enrollment and higher attrition of female trainees in surgery. However, there is no comprehensive data examining trends to determine if positive strides have been made towards greater equity.
Methods: Retrospective cohort study examining Canadian surgical residents who began training between 2000 and 2010. Enrollment data was compared to how many of those individuals registered for their final surgical certifying examinations by 2018, which indicated completion of residency.
Results: In the 10-year period, overall attrition rates of surgical trainees was 8%. Female residents were twice as likely to leave training compared to their male counterparts (12.4 vs 6.1% p < 0.001). Attrition rates for female residents appeared to trend downwards. Enrollment of female surgical trainees across all surgical specialties increased from 27.3% to 39.2% during this time.
Conclusion: Equity in Canadian surgical training enrollment and retention improved for those who began training from 2000 to 2010, but there continued to be differences in female trainee recruitment and attrition rates compared to their male counterparts.
Keywords: Equity; Surgical attrition; Surgical education; Surgical training; gender equity.
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