Proportion of female recipients of resident-selected awards across Canada from 2000 to 2018: a retrospective observational study

Sarah Silverberg; Shannon M. Ruzycki

doi:10.9778/cmajo.20190129

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Figure 1:
Proportion of eligible full-time faculty physicians in Canada who won residency association awards, 2000–2018, by sex (Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada data).
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Figure 2:
Proportion of eligible resident physicians in Canada who won residency association awards, 2002–2018, by sex.

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Table 1:

Number of awards distributed to staff and resident physicians by Canadian provincial and national residency associations, 2000–2018, by award category^*

Residency association	Total	Professionalism, advocacy and wellness^†	Education and teaching^†	Not classified^‡
Staff recipients
RDOC	25	12	13	0
RDBC	35	17	18	0
PARA	69	31	38	0
RDOS	65	0	65	0
PARIM	27	0	23	4
PARO	79	4	75	0
Mar-Docs	4	0	4	0
PAR-NL	10	0	10	0
Total	314	64	246	4
Resident recipients
RDOC	19	11	8	0
RDBC	13	13	0	0
RDOS	10	10	0	0
PARIM	5	1	1	3
PARO	68	0	68	0
Mar-Docs	5	5	0	0
PAR-NL	9	0	0	9
Total	129	40	77	12

Note: Mar-Docs = Maritime Resident Doctors, PARA = Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta, PARIM = Professional Association of Residents and Interns of Manitoba, PAR-NL = Professional Association of Residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, PARO = Professional Association of Residents of Ontario, RDBC = Resident Doctors of British Columbia, RDOC = Resident Doctors of Canada, RDOS = Resident Doctors of Saskatchewan.
↵* For a list of award names and criteria, see Appendix 2.
↵† Assigned based on award name or nomination criteria, where available.
↵‡ Included awards that were not classified as professionalism, advocacy and wellness, or education and teaching awards based on award name or nomination criteria, where available.

Table 2:

Number of full-time faculty physicians who received an award from a Canadian residency association proportion, by sex, and odds of receiving an award^*

Year	No. of male award winners (% of total awards)	Total no. of male faculty physicians (% of eligible physicians^†)	No. of female award winners (% of total awards)	Total no. of female faculty physicians (% of eligible physicians^†)	OR (95% CI)
2018^‡	20 (69.0)	8514 (61.1)	9 (31.0)	5418 (38.9)	1.41 (0.61–3.53)
2017	13 (65.0)	8304 (61.5)	7 (35.0)	5201 (38.5)	1.16 (0.43–3.44)
2016	14 (73.7)	8189 (62.8)	5 (26.3)	4859 (37.2)	1.66 (0.57–5.90)
2015	20 (74.1)	8102 (62.9)	7 (25.9)	4776 (37.1)	1.68 (0.68–4.72)
2014	17 (77.3)	7960 (63.2)	5 (22.7)	4644 (36.8)	1.98 (0.70–6.88)
2013	14 (66.7)	7346 (63.8)	7 (33.3)	4175 (36.2)	1.14 (0.43–3.33)
2012	16 (64.0)	7212 (64.4)	9 (36.0)	3993 (35.6)	0.98 (0.41–2.53)
2011	14 (60.9)	6940 (64.8)	9 (39.1)	3777 (35.2)	0.85 (0.34–2.22)
2010^‡	16 (84.2)	6730 (64.1)	3 (15.8)	3776 (35.9)	2.99 (0.86–16.03)
2009^‡	11 (84.6)	6520 (64.5)	2 (15.4)	3559 (35.5)	3.00 (0.65–27.88)
2008^‡	15 (78.9)	6310 (65.4)	4 (21.1)	3342 (34.6)	1.99 (0.63–8.23)
2007^‡	11 (73.3)	6100 (66.1)	4 (26.7)	3125 (33.9)	1.41 (0.42–6.07)
2006^‡	6 (100.0)	5890 (66.9)	0 (0.0)	2908 (33.1)	5.44 (0.30–98.35)
2005^‡	10 (76.9)	5680 (67.9)	3 (23.1)	2691 (32.1)	1.58 (0.41–8.94)
2004^‡	7 (70.0)	5470 (68.9)	3 (30.0)	2474 (31.1)	1.06 (0.24–6.33)
2003^‡	9 (90.0)	5260 (70.0)	1 (10.0)	2257 (30.0)	3.86 (0.53–169.3)
2002^‡	6 (54.5)	5050 (71.2)	5 (45.5)	2040 (28.8)	0.48 (0.12–2.01)
2001^‡	7 (100.0)	4840 (72.6)	0 (0.0)	1823 (27.4)	8.68 (0.51–147.45)
2000^‡	4 (80.0)	4630 (74.2)	1 (20.0)	1606 (25.8)	1.39 (0.14–68.36)
Total^‡	230 (73.2)	125 047 (65.3)	84 (26.8)	66 444 (34.7)	1.45 (1.13–1.89)

Note: CI = confidence interval, OR = odds ratio.
↵* Odds of male physicians’ receiving an award divided by odds of female physicians’ receiving an award.
↵† The number of eligible male and female physicians who received awards was estimated from Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada data.
↵‡ Contains estimates where data were not available and the numbers of male and female faculty physicians were extrapolated.

Table 3:

Recipients of awards stratified by recipient discipline

Discipline	Total no. (%) of awards distributed	No. (%) of female award recipients	No. (%) of females in discipline^*	Median OR (95% PI^†)
Staff physician recipients
Family medicine^‡	39 (12.4)	15 (38.5)	19 981 (45.9)	1.50 (0.90–2.22)
Laboratory medicine^§	5 (1.6)	2 (40.0)	746 (41.5)	1.66 (0.81–2.75)
Medical specialists^¶	138 (43.9)	35 (25.4)	11 645 (40.5)	1.91 (1.44–2.59)
Surgical specialists^**	40 (12.7)	8 (20.0)	3000 (29.3)	1.75 (1.13–2.71)
Unknown	92 (29.3)	24 (26.1)	–	–
Total	314 (100.0)	84 (26.8)	35 372 (42.0)	1.95 (1.54–2.46)
Resident physician recipients
Family medicine^‡	13 (10.1)	3 (23.1)	2137 (60.8)	1.90 (1.07–5.03)
Laboratory medicine^§	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	208 (53.9)	–
Medical specialists^¶	65 (50.4)	29 (44.6)	3926 (51.7)	1.44 (0.97–2.08)
Surgical specialists^**	32 (24.8)	10 (31.2)	1226 (46.9)	1.35 (0.75–2.15)
Other^††	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	5 (0.1)	–
Unknown	19 (14.7)	10 (52.6)	–	–
Total	129 (100.0)	52 (40.3)	7502 (53.1)	1.54 (1.14–2.18)

Note: OR = odds ratio, PI = posterior interval.
↵* In 2018, based on data on discipline and sex from the Canadian Medical Association for staff physician recipients and data from the Canadian Post-M.D. Education Registry (CAPER) for resident physicians.
↵† 95% posterior intervals obtained from Bayesian modelling do not describe statistical significance but, rather, the uncertainty range compatible with 95% of subjects.
↵‡ Includes family medicine and the Enhanced Skills training programs (e.g., family medicine plus emergency medicine), based on the CAPER classifications.
↵§ Includes anatomic pathology, general pathology, hematologic pathology, medical biochemistry, medical microbiology and neuropathology, based on the CAPER classifications.
↵¶ Includes anesthesiology, dermatology, diagnostic radiology, emergency medicine, internal medicine (including all subspecialties of internal medicine), medical genetics and genomics, neurology, neurology – pediatric, nuclear medicine, palliative medicine, pediatrics (including all subspecialties of pediatrics), physical medicine and rehabilitation, psychiatry, public health and preventive medicine, and radiation oncology, based on the CAPER classifications.
↵** Includes cardiac surgery, general surgery, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, urology and vascular surgery, based on the CAPER classifications.
↵†† Includes cytopathology, transfusion medicine, adult interventional cardiology and adult echocardiography, based on the CAPER classifications.

Table 4:

Number of resident physicians who received an award from a Canadian residency association, by sex, and odds of receiving an award^*

Year	No. of male resident award winners (% of total awards)	No. of male residents (% of eligible resident physicians)	No. of female resident award winners (% of total awards)	No. of female residents (% of eligible resident physicians)	OR (95% CI)
2018^†	11 (68.8)	6626 (46.9)	5 (31.3)	7502 (53.1)	2.49 (0.80–9.15)
2017^†	8 (50.0)	6596 (47.0)	8 (50.0)	7449 (53.0)	1.13 (0.37–3.45)
2016^†	7 (58.3)	6525 (46.6)	5 (41.7)	7474 (53.4)	1.60 (0.44–6.41)
2015^†	5 (41.7)	6292 (46.0)	7 (58.3)	7393 (54.0)	0.84 (0.21–3.07)
2014^†	2 (25.0)	6065 (45.3)	6 (75.0)	7314 (54.7)	0.40 (0.04–2.25)
2013^†	4 (44.4)	5917 (45.7)	5 (55.6)	7034 (54.3)	0.95 (0.19–4.42)
2012^†	5 (62.5)	5682 (45.6)	3 (37.5)	6785 (54.4)	1.99 (0.39–12.82)
2011^‡	6 (100.0)	2076 (48.8)	0 (0.0)	2180 (51.2)	8.43 (1.13–374.14)
2010^†	4 (57.1)	5136 (46.3)	3 (42.9)	5945 (53.7)	1.54 (0.26–10.54)
2009^§	4 (66.7)	1593 (48.2)	2 (33.3)	1713 (51.8)	2.15 (0.31–23.80)
2008^§	3 (75.0)	1484 (48.2)	1 (25.0)	1594 (51.8)	3.22 (0.26–169.24)
2007^¶	4 (100.0)	1005 (59.8)	0 (0.0)	998 (40.2)	8.97 (0.48–166.89)
2006^¶	3 (60.0)	958 (50.6)	2 (40.0)	934 (49.4)	1.46 (0.17–17.54)
2005^§	3 (60.0)	1289 (51.7)	2 (40.0)	1203 (48.3)	1.40 (0.16–16.78)
2004^¶	3 (60.0)	947 (54.9)	2 (40.0)	778 (45.1)	1.23 (0.14–14.79)
2003^¶	3 (75.0)	926 (55.3)	1 (25.0)	747 (44.7)	2.42 (0.19–127.20)
2002^**	2 (100.0)	227 (64.3)	0 (0.0)	126 (35.7)	2.80 (0.13–58.88)
Total	77 (59.7)	59 344 (46.9)	52 (40.3)	67 169 (53.1)	1.70 (1.18–2.46)

Note: CI = confidence interval, OR = odds ratio.
↵* Odds of male physicians’ receiving an award divided by odds of female physicians’ receiving an award.
↵† All residents included.
↵‡ Includes residents from Western University, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and the University of Manitoba.
↵§ Includes residents from Western University, the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia.
↵¶ Includes residents from Western University and the University of Toronto.
↵** Includes Western University data.

Table 5:

Number of staff and resident physician recipients of professionalism, advocacy and wellness awards, and education and teaching awards

Physician	Professionalism, advocacy and wellness awards		Education and teaching awards		OR (95% CI)

	Total awards distributed	No. (%) of female award recipients	Total awards distributed	No. (%) of female award recipients
Staff	64	30 (46.9)	246	53 (21.5)	3.21 (1.72–5.95)

Residents	40	20 (50.0)	77	26 (33.8)	1.96 (0.84–4.60)