Can a Strategic Pipeline Initiative Increase the Number of Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Orthopaedic Surgery?

• Published in: Clinical orthopaedics and related research 2016-09, Vol.474 (9), p.1979-1985
• Main Authors: Mason, Bonnie S., Ross, William, Ortega, Gezzer, Chambers, Monique C., Parks, Michael L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Career Choice; Conservative Orthopedics; Curriculum; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Female; Humans; Internship and Residency - statistics & numerical data; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Minority Groups - statistics & numerical data; Odds Ratio; Orthopedic Surgeons - education; Orthopedic Surgeons - statistics & numerical data; Orthopedic Surgeons - trends; Orthopedics; Orthopedics - education; Orthopedics - manpower; Orthopedics - trends; Physicians, Women - statistics & numerical data; Physicians, Women - trends; Program Development; Program Evaluation; Retrospective Studies; Sex Factors; Specialization - statistics & numerical data; Sports Medicine; Students, Medical - statistics & numerical data; Surgery; Surgical Orthopedics; Symposium: Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Orthopaedics; United States; Women, Working - education; Women, Working - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 0009-921X; 1528-1132
• DOI: 10.1007/s11999-016-4846-8

Background Women and minorities remain underrepresented in orthopaedic surgery. In an attempt to increase the diversity of those entering the physician workforce, Nth Dimensions implemented a targeted pipeline curriculum that includes the Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program. The program exposes medical students to the specialty of orthopaedic surgery and equips students to be competitive applicants to orthopaedic surgery residency programs. The effect of this program on women and underrepresented minority applicants to orthopaedic residencies is highlighted in this article. Questions/purposes (1) For women we asked: is completing the Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program associated with higher odds of applying to orthopaedic surgery residency? (2) For underrepresented minorities, is completing the Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program associated with higher odds of applying to orthopaedic residency? Methods Between 2005 and 2012, 118 students completed the Nth Dimensions/American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program. The summer internship consisted of an 8-week clinical and research program between the first and second years of medical school and included a series of musculoskeletal lectures, hands-on, practical workshops, presentation of a completed research project, ongoing mentoring, professional development, and counselling through each participant’s subsequent years of medical school. In correlation with available national application data, residency application data were obtained for those Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program participants who applied to the match between 2011 through 2014. For these 4 cohort years, we evaluated whether this program was associated with increased odds of applying to orthopaedic surgery residency compared with national controls. For the same four cohorts, we evaluated whether underrepresented minority students who completed the program had increased odds of applying to an orthopaedic surgery residency compared with national controls. Results Fifty Orthopaedic Summer Internship scholars applied for an orthopaedic residency position. For women, completion of the Orthopaedic Summer Internship was associated with increased odds of applying to orthopaedic surgery residency (after summer internship: nine of 17 [35%]; national controls: 800 of 78,316 [1%]; odds ratio [OR], 51.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 21.1–122.0; p < 0.001). Similarly, for underrepresented minorities, Orthopaedic Summ