Among orthopedic residents, there wasn’t a difference in case volume performed across race and gender, according to a study in the June issue of the HSS Journal: The Musculoskeletal Journal of Hospital for Special Surgery.
Five things to know:
1. The analysis covered 111 orthopedic surgery residents at a single institution from 2010 to 2023. About 80% identified as men and 20% as women; roughly 61% identified as White, non-Hispanic, and 32% as another race or ethnicity.
2. Women logged a mean of 1,865.6 total cases over residency, compared to 1,861.0 for men. The study found no statistically meaningful gender gap in overall operative volume.
3. When broken down by training year, fourth-year female residents logged a mean of 430.3 cases versus 370.0 for their male counterparts.
4. White residents and residents of other races and ethnicities logged comparable overall case totals, and no race- or ethnicity-based differences emerged at any individual post-graduate year level.
5. The study concluded: “In contrast to prior studies, our retrospective single-institution review found no difference in overall case volume for orthopedic residents based on their self-reported gender or race/ethnicity. Institutions and the specialty at large should continue to create equitable surgical opportunities for orthopedic trainees, while future research should assess autonomy within cases.”
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