Gender Differences in Medical Student Interest in Arthroplasty

The majority of orthopaedic residents match into fellowship in the subspecialty they are most interested in at the start of residency, however there is a lack of understanding of medical student interest in orthopaedic subspecialties. Our objective was to determine interest in arthroplasty among medical students interested in orthopaedic surgery, and to identify factors contributing to student interest and disinterest..

An anonymous online survey was developed and distributed to medical students interested in orthopaedic surgery at 23 United States allopathic and osteopathic medical schools through their school administrators. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and a Fisher's exact test was used for categorical variables.

183 medical students (56% female) completed the survey for an estimated 29% response rate. Significantly fewer female medical students were interested in adult reconstruction compared to their male counterparts (10% versus 29%, p = 0.004). The most commonly identified factors contributing to interest by female students were interest in the subject matter (100%) and patient population (70%), while male students most commonly identified clinical experience (74%) and presence of a mentor (63%). Significantly fewer female medical students received the suggestion to pursue arthroplasty compared to males (0% versus 11%, p = 0.002).

Female medical students are significantly less interested in arthroplasty and receive significantly less encouragement to consider arthroplasty than their male counterparts. Factors influencing both interest and disinterest in orthopaedic subspecialties differ between male and female medical students.Level of Evidence: V.