ArticleBMJ open2022
Motivators and deterrents for early career female doctors applying to surgical training programmes in the UK National Health Service: a mixed-methods study.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Contemporary challenges for a curriculum to foster interest in surgical careers: a multicentric study on the evolving needs of female medical students to consider a career as a surgeon in Germany.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Perspectives of preclinical and clinical medical students on surgical specialties: a single-center cross-sectional study in Türkiye.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- A cross-sectional investigation of trend in career specialty preference among clinical year medical undergraduates, including factors influencing preferences and discouragement.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo perform a mixed-methods study identifying motivators and deterrents to female doctors interested in core surgical training (CST). To provide tangible implementations based on the findings.
designThis study used quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (semistructured interviews (SSIs)) analyses. Participants completed online questionnaires on Qualtrics and SSIs were conducted remotely on Microsoft Teams. Questions were derived from previous studies and a novel term, the gender impact rating (GIR), was coined to assess the impact of gender on opportunities available during CST application.
settingParticipants were working in the UK National Health Service and data collected from December 2020 to January 2021.
participantsA total of 100 female surgical trainees in the UK ranging from Foundation Year 2 to Core Training Year 2.
main outcome measuresParticipants ranked factors by their influence on their CST application. Of the 100 trainees, 21 were randomly selected for an SSI to explore their questionnaire responses. Statistical analyses were performed using MATLAB and SPSS, alongside a thematic analysis of the interviews.
resultsA total of 44 out of 100 questionnaire respondents ranked early exposure to surgery as the most influential motivator, while 43% selected work-life balance as the greatest deterrent and 33% suggested mentoring schemes to encourage women to apply to CST. The median GIR was 3 out of 5, indicating a moderate perceived impact of gender on opportunities available during CST application. Qualitative analysis found four overarching themes: institutional factors (including mentorship schemes), organisational culture (including active engagement), social factors and personal factors.
conclusionThematic analysis suggested that seniors involving women in theatre and a supportive work environment would encourage entry of more female surgeons. Therefore, the proposed implementations are the active engagement of women in theatre and destigmatising less than full-time training. Further research into ethnicity and personality on motivations to enter surgery is advised.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.