Gender differences in Australian general practice trainees performing procedures related to women’s reproductive...

Gender differences may exist in the performance of women’s reproductive procedures. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and association of general practice registrars’ performance of women’s procedures with trainees’ gender, rurality of practice and in-consultation seeking of information or assistance.

This was a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study of registrars’ consultations in 2010–17. Registrars recorded 60 consecutive consultations during each six-month training term. The outcome was performance of a procedure related to women’s reproductve health.

Of 24,333 procedures performed in 332,700 encounters, 15,634 were on female patients and 6025 of those included procedures relating to women’s reproductive health; 5002 were Pap smears (20.6%). Only 235 (4.7%) Pap smears were performed by male trainees. Performing women’s procedures was significantly associated with trainees’ gender, with an adjusted odds ratio of 4.80 (95% confidence interval: 4.10, 5.61).

Our findings suggest that a gender difference exists in general practice trainees’ frequency of performing women’s procedures. Male trainees require more opportunities and support from their preceptors, clinical settings and training programs to perform these procedures.