Colon and Rectal Surgery Robotic Training Programs: An Evaluation of Gender Disparities

Area of Science:

• Surgical Education
• Minimally Invasive Surgery
• Gender Bias in Medicine

Background:

• Implicit bias affects female surgeons throughout their careers.
• Increasing numbers of female trainees in colon and rectal surgery necessitate evaluating gender bias in training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate gender bias in colon and rectal surgery training program operative experience, specifically robotic console participation and total mesorectal excision completion.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study analyzing robotic case logs from the Association of Program Directors for Colon and Rectal Surgery (2016-2018).
• Data included operative details, trainee/attending surgeon gender, console participation percentage, and total mesorectal excision completion.
• Statistical analysis compared outcomes across four gender combination groups (trainee/attending).

Main Results:

• Female trainees received less average console participation (53.5%) compared to male trainees (61.7%).
• Male attending surgeons provided female trainees less console participation (52.1%) than male trainees (59.7%).
• Male trainees completed significantly more total mesorectal excisions (57.16%) than female trainees (42.38%).

Conclusions:

• Significant gender disparities exist in robotic operative experience within colon and rectal surgery training.
• Female trainees have reduced opportunities for console participation and completing total mesorectal excisions.
• This disparity warrants highlighting and further investigation to promote equitable training.