Trends in Fellow Education Research Among Obstetric and Gynecologic Subspecialties

To evaluate the frequency at which fellow education-related abstracts are presented at national meetings and compare presentation rates before and after the accreditation transition.

This cross-sectional study evaluated abstracts from the five most recent national meetings of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS), and the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG) and Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO). Three independent reviewers assessed abstracts for education-specific content. Abstracts were included if two or greater reviewers identified them as related to fellow education. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.

Fourteen thousand six hundred thirty abstracts were presented at obstetric and gynecologic subspecialty meetings between 2012 and 2017. Of these, 29 (0.20%) pertained to fellows' education. The percent of total abstracts that were fellow-related remained relatively constant over time. Of the four subspecialties, the AUGS presented fellow education research almost five times more frequently than ASRM (P<.01) or SMFM (P<.01). Over the study period, 1,283 abstracts were presented at the CREOG and APGO meeting, with four (0.31%) pertaining to fellows' education. At the CREOG and APGO meeting, fellow-related abstracts did not appear to increase over the period studied.

Research regarding fellows' education is rarely presented at national meetings, representing less than 1% of all abstracts, and has not substantially increased since the transition to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.