Gender differences in surgical case volume among ophthalmology trainees

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology surgical training and resident competency assessment.
• Gender disparities in surgical procedural volume and experience.
• Medical education and professional development in surgical fields.

Background:

• Increasing number of female physicians in ophthalmology.
• Need to evaluate surgical training equity in ophthalmology.
• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) training program.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if male and female RANZCO trainees have different procedural volumes.
• To assess differences in cataract surgery experience between genders.
• To evaluate surgical training equity within ophthalmology residency.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal retrospective review of RANZCO trainee logbook data (2008-2020).
• Analysis of 241 trainee logbooks, including gender, training duration, and surgical case types.
• Surgical cases categorized into all cases, complete cataract, and partial cataract procedures.

Main Results:

• Female trainees had 21.1% lower total surgical volume at 4 years.
• Completed cataract surgeries were 21.5% lower at 18 months and 41.7% lower at 4 years for females.
• Interrupted training was more frequent in females (30.6% vs. 0.7%), but parental leave was not a significant predictor of cataract case numbers.

Conclusions:

• Female RANZCO trainees complete substantially fewer cataract operations than males.
• A significant disparity in surgical experience widens between years 1 and 4 of training.
• Current data suggests unequal operating experiences for male and female ophthalmology trainees.