Higher attrition rates were found for female and Black Americans in medical residency training programs.
Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the University of Pittsburgh, and Shriners Children's Southern California in Pasadena, collected information from 112,205 individual surgical residents and looked at attrition rates related to demographics including race and sex across all surgical subspecialties.
They found, specifically, that the "risk for attrition and unintended attrition was significantly elevated" for these two groups, which highlights "current racial and sex disparities in resident attrition" and demonstrates "the importance of developing strategies to recruit, retain and support residents," researchers wrote.
Of all surgical subspecialties, the attrition rates were highest for the field of orthopedic surgery.