Abstract
Introduction: There is limited research on why women do or do not choose a career in urology. Considering the increasing proportion of female medical students, we assessed for trends in female applicants to urology programs in Canada and their post-residency career choices. Methods: Data from the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS) was used (1998‒2015). Trends in the proportions of females applying and matching to surgical subspecialties, and applying and matching to urology were computed. Surveys were sent to urology program directors to assess female residents’ chosen career paths over the last decade. Results: A significant increasing trend in the proportion of females applying to urology as their first choice program was found (0.19 in 1998‒99 to 0.27 in 2012‒15; p=0.04). An increasing trend in the proportion of females successfully matching to urology was found, although it was not statistically significant (0.13 in 1998‒99 to 0.24 in 2012‒15; p=0.07). This was in keeping with the trends found for surgical programs overall. Female graduates choose a variety of career paths, with urogynecology being the most common fellowship (26%). Conclusions: The last two decades has seen an increase in the proportion of female students applying to urology in Canada. Female urology graduates pursue a variety of career paths. It remains imperative that both female and male medical students have early exposure and education about our subspecialty to ensure we continue to recruit the most talented candidates.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | E105-E111 |
| Journal | Journal of the Canadian Urological Association |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:1. CaRMS applicants 2. Surgical discipline residency positions 3. Applicants who ranked a surgical program as first choice 4. Applicants who matched to a surgical program 5. Urology positions 6. Applicants who ranked urology as their first choice 7. Applicants who matched to urology Although it was not our primary outcome, we collected data on “surgical disciplines” in addition to the data on urology alone. Available CaRMS data for surgical disciplines included: cardiac surgery, general surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology – head & neck surgery, plastic surgery, urology, and vascular surgery. Of note, obstetrics and gynecology was not included in the surgical disciplines grouping by CaRMS. We elected to collect these data to act as a baseline comparison to the trends we assessed in urology programs alone. The second part of our study consisted of a survey of Canadian urology residency program directors (PDs). The current PDs were sent an email with a letter detailing the study intent and requested information. The letter was written in both English and French. The information requested from 2005 until 2015 included (Appendix 1): 1. Number of females entering their residency program 2. Number of female graduates 3. Number of female graduates entering community practice in Canada or the U.S. 4. Number of graduates pursuing fellowship training 5. Type of subspecialty training To help improve the accuracy of the survey results, the Canadian Urological Association (CUA) provided the individual PDs with anonymous data on the 2008‒2015 female graduates from their respective programs. It was sent in a reminder email to PDs as a reference for their survey responses. This was information that had been provided to the CUA by the PDs in past years. The identity of the residents was not requested at any point in time for the purpose of this study. Local research ethics board approval was obtained prior to the commencement of this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Canadian Urological Association.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Oncology
- Urology
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article