Surgical teams in hospitals benefit from having more female doctors, leading to improved patient outcomes, reduced risk of complications, and potentially lower healthcare costs, according to the largest study of its kind.
Surgical teams in hospitals benefit from having more female doctors, leading to improved patient outcomes, reduced risk of complications, and potentially lower healthcare costs, according to the largest study of its kind.
Diversity is recognized as crucial in various fields like business, finance, tech, education, and law, not just for fairness but also for effectiveness. Yet, the importance of gender diversity in healthcare teams hasn’t been extensively supported by evidence.
A recent study, analyzing over 700,000 surgeries across a decade, revealed that hospitals with a higher representation of women in their surgical teams tend to deliver better results for patients. This study, published in the British Journal of Surgery, suggests that the diversity of the anesthesia-surgery team plays a significant role in postoperative outcomes.
The research emphasizes that promoting gender diversity in operating room teams isn’t solely about equality but is crucial for optimizing performance and enhancing patient satisfaction, potentially reducing major complications and associated costs.
Conducted by the University of Toronto, the study looked at elective surgeries in 88 hospitals in Ontario, Canada, between 2009 and 2019. It found that hospitals with over 35% female surgeons and anesthesiologists had notably better postoperative outcomes, with a 3% reduction in the likelihood of major complications within 90 days after surgery.
Furthermore, the study highlights the added value of female surgeons and anesthesiologists in enhancing team diversity and improving outcomes. Lead author Dr. Julie Hallet stresses the significance of these findings, signaling a pivotal shift in recognizing how diversity contributes to the quality of perioperative care.
“Ensuring a critical mass of female anaesthesiologists and surgeons in operative teams isn’t just about equity; it seems necessary to optimise performance.”
While past studies have indicated that patients operated on by women tend to experience fewer complications or require less follow-up care compared to those treated by men, Dr. Hallet emphasized the need to move beyond a simplistic comparison between female and male clinicians. Instead, her research team aimed to underscore the value of diversity as a collective strength in enhancing the quality of care.
Enhancing gender diversity in surgical teams will demand deliberate actions to establish systematic recruitment and retention policies for female doctors, she added.