Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2023 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back
Rate ePoster

Professional and Personal Development

(306) Medical School and Program Factors Impacting Females Choosing Otolaryngology Residency

Monday, October 2, 2023
2:45 PM – 3:45 PM East Coast USA Time

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Peter Steinwald, MD

    Resident
    Tufts Medical Center
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • James O. Onyeukwu, Other

    Medical Student
    Tufts Medical School
    Randolph, Massachusetts, United States

  • KN

    Kathryn Y. Noonan, MD

    Assistant Professor
    Tufts University School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology
    Boston, MA, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • CS

    Christian Soneru, MD

    Assistant Professor
    Tufts Medical Center
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Disclosure(s):
Peter Steinwald, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.
James O. Onyeukwu, Other: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Christian Soneru, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.


Introduction: Gender differences among leadership positions in academic otolaryngology have become an important topic of discussion over the past several years. Mentorship during the early career phases of medical school and residency may play an important role. This database study aims to identify factors that impact females entering the specialty and matching into a residency program.

Methods: Publicly available data was used to construct a database of otolaryngology residents representing the match cycles of 2017-2021. For each resident, we collected data on gender, post graduate year, and medical school attended. Associated medical school and residency factors were analyzed, including US News and World Report ranking, Doximity ranking, otolaryngology department funding, otolaryngology faculty composition by gender, and the presence of an otolaryngology student interest group. Univariate and multivariate regression was used to examine factors that may influence females matriculating into an otolaryngology residency program.

Results: The 1565 residents identified consisted of 645 females (41%) and graduated from 140 different US medical schools, of which have 108 (77%) were found to have otolaryngology faculty. 101 US otolaryngology residency programs were also included. There was a significant association (p < 0.05) between the percentage of female medical school graduates entering otolaryngology and the number of clinical female faculty on univariate analysis. On multivariate analysis, no significance was identified. When examining whether increased number of clinical female faculty led to higher numbers of female residents, no significance was identified on univariate or multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: The number of female clinical otolaryngology mentors available for female medical students may impact the decision to enter otolaryngology. However, this may play less of a role in attracting residents to a certain program. When taking into account other factors that may influence a medical student decision, such as program prestige and funding, the gender of faculty mentors may be less important.