Gender differences in intensive care medicine worldwide Critical Care。

Title: Women in Intensive Care Study: a preliminary assessment of international data on female representation in the ICU physician workforce, By

Bala Venkatesh, Sangeeta Mehta, Derek C. Angus, Simon Finfer, Flavia R. Machado, John Marshall, Imogen Mitchell, Sandra Peake and Janice L. Zimmerman
Published time: 20 Aug, 2018/09/10
Digital ID: 10.1186 / s13054-018-2139-1
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Worldwide, the number of women entering medical school is increasing, but gender differences persist in some professions, especially in intensive care medicine. Very little data has been published on this issue, and an article published in
attempts to understand the effectiveness of international data by investigating critical care organizations and national training institutions. In a follow-up blog post, geeta Mehta, co-author of the article, discusses the study and the issues it highlights.value of diversity is indisputable in the academic community of intensive care, which is made up of clinicians, educators and scientists.
, in many countries, there are more women than men in medical schools, and the number of women in intensive care is on the rise. However, women are still underreaffed in influential and important academic and critical care activities, such as clinical practice guidance, journal editorial boards and conference presentations. There is no consensus on the target percentage of women who should be involved in these academic activities. These targets include the percentage of women physicians working in intensive care medicine or the percentage of women engaged in academic activities (researchers, educators, quality improvers, etc.).
starting point of this study is to understand women's participation in intensive care from a global perspective. Our goal is to take a multi-approach approach to collecting data on female students and faculty around the world, as well as data on women as leaders, board directors and conference speakers.
most striking aspect of our findings is the lack of personnel statistics, which are not collected in most countries, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In some high-income countries, the proportion of women trained in intensive care is close to 40 per cent, but there are wide geographical differences. Still,
study did not assess the causes of the gender imbalance. Clearly, many issues need to be further explored. Future studies should assess the challenges faced by women (e.g. maternity leave and family responsibilities), the barriers to their full commitment to intensive care and important academic activities, and propose strategies to increase the participation of women and other underrepresented groups.
long way to achieving gender equality globally. However, in order to lead progress in this area and correct the gender imbalance in intensive care, we need global labour force demographic data and a common voice of men and women in society on gender disparities.
our study highlights the huge differences in gender participation in global intensive care at the data level. It was to be hoped that the findings would encourage the international community to collect data on the labour force, promote research on barriers to women's success and propose potential solutions to the gender gap.。 Despite increasing female enrolment into medical schools, persistent gender gaps exist in the physician workforce. There are limited published data on female representation in the critical care medicine workforce.。 To obtain a global perspective, societies (n = 84; 79,834 members (40,363 physicians, 39,471 non-physicians)) registered with the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine were surveyed. Longitudinal data on female trainee and specialist positions between 2006-2017 were obtained from Australia and New Zealand. Data regarding leadership and academic faculty representation were also collected from national training bodies and other organisations of critical care medicine.。 Of the 84 societies, 23 had a registered membership of greater than 500 members. Responses were received from 27 societies (n = 55,996), mainly high-income countries, covering 70.1% of the membership. Amongst the physician workforce, the gender distribution was available from six (22%) participating societies—mean proportion of females 37 ± 11% (range 26–50%). Longitudinal data from Australia and New Zealand between 2006 and 2017 demonstrate rising proportions of female trainees and specialists. Female trainee and specialist numbers increased from 26 to 37% and from 13 to 22% respectively. Globally, female representation in leadership positions was presidencies of critical care organisations (0–41%), representation on critical care medicine boards and councils (8–50%) and faculty representation at symposia (7–34%). Significant gaps in knowledge exist: data from low and middle-income countries, the age distribution and the time taken to enter and complete training.。 Despite limited information globally, available data suggest that females are under-represented in training programmes, specialist positions, academic faculty and leadership roles in intensive care. There are significant gaps in data on female participation in the critical care workforce. Further data from intensive care organisations worldwide are required to understand the demographics, challenges and barriers to their professional progress.。 (
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) is a high-quality, peer-reviewed, international clinical medical journal. Critical Care aims to improve the care of critically ill patients by acquiring, discussing, distributing, and promoting evidence-based information relevant to intensivists. Critical Care aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the intensive care field.
(Source: Science.com)