Highlights
- •A survey to improve diversity in Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology
- •Complexity of cases/competency in TEE is a major motivator in pursuing fellowship
- •56% of female fellows felt their experience was negatively impacted by their gender
- •Female fellows felt more often less courtesy and less respect compared to males
Abstract
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to improving diversity within adult
cardiothoracic anesthesiology (ACTA) and to provide possible strategies that could
be implemented by evaluating the demographics of current ACTA fellows, examining motivating
factors to pursue the sub-specialty, and assessing perception of unconscious biases
during their application process and training.
Design
A survey was created by the authors and distributed electronically by the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists to the ACTA Fellows, April to June 2022.
Setting
Multi-center survey.
Participants
2021-2022 ACTA fellows.
Interventions
None.
Results
68 fellows were included in the analytical sample; 37.3% were female, 58.2% were male.
Half of the sample was White (47%), 26% Asian, 8% Hispanic or Latinx, 5% Black, and
2% Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian. Most fellows indicated complexity of cases/competency
in TEE was “very important” in their motivating factor (74.0%). When examining gender
differences, female fellows reported (p value<0.05) their experience was negatively
impacted by gender and were more often treated with less respect and less courtesy.
There were no statistically significant differences on whether perceived discrimination
differed by race/ethnicity.
Conclusions
This study identified several motivators to pursue ACTA and the perceptions of unconscious
biases during fellowship. Female fellows felt unconscious bias and a negative impact
against them, due to gender. Due to the small number of URM, the results should be
interpreted with caution. Additionally, this provides support to complete further
studies. Implicit bias training is one strategy that can be implemented to decrease
unconscious bias experienced by ACTA fellows.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Publication stage
In Press Accepted ManuscriptIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
