AAMC Data Shows Effect of Surgery Faculty Diversity on General Surgery Resident Attrition Rate at Programs Sponsored by LCME-Accredited Medical Schools.

Objective General surgery resident (GSR) 5-year attrition rates of 12% to 20% are currently reported. This study explores the impact of full-time surgery faculty (FSF) diversity on GSR attrition. Design Deidentified data were obtained from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for FSF at US Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)-accredited medical schools and GSR at the affiliated general surgery residency programs (2001-2016). Data included annual GSR attrition rate and the number, gender, and race of FSF and GSR. Data were analyzed using linear and logarithmic regression. Setting The study was conducted at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. Participants The data obtained included FSF from US LCME-accredited medical schools and GSR from those residency programs affiliated with US LCME-accredited medical schools. Data were included only if available for both FSF and GSR at a single institution. There were 107,300 annual FSF positions and 39,504 annual GSR positions from 61 U.S. LCME-accredited medical schools included in the analysis. Results Data included 107,300 FSF positions (26% non-white; 20% female) and 39,504 GSR positions (41% non-white; 33% female) summed across 1034 institution years. Increased female FSF is associated with decreased GSR attrition (R2 = 0.009, p = 0.002, Fig. 1 ). For every 1% increase in female FSF, GSR programs were 4% less likely to have an attrition rate in the top quartile (odds ratio 0.96, confidence interval 0.94-0.98). Conclusions Gender diversity of FSF has an impact on GSR attrition; more female FSF correlates with lower GSR attrition rates.