59 - Words Matter: Examining Gender Differences in the Language Used to Evaluate Pediatrics Residents

Poster Board #: 59
Publication #: 1906-HP-QA.59

Background: Gender disparities in academic medicine continue to be pervasive, with bias as a possible contributor. Written evaluations of residents may provide insight into perceptions of residents by faculty, form the basis for letters of recommendation for positions beyond residency, and play into perceived stereotype threat experienced by trainees. We seek to examine evaluations of residents in pediatrics, a female-predominant specialty, yet with attrition through the academic pipeline, to determine if gender differences exist in the language used to describe women.


Objective: To examine language used in faculty evaluations of pediatrics residents to determine if there are differences in language used with respect to gender of resident.


Design/Methods: This is a qualitative analysis of faculty evaluations of residents. All faculty evaluations of residents in each of 3 subsequent intern classes from 2016-2018 were included. Evaluations were redacted for resident and faculty name and all gender identifiers (ie: she/her, he/his). We performed a qualitative analysis of 2 mandatory free text sections entitled “best aspects of this resident’s performance” and “suggestions for improvement.” Text was coded initially by the study team as a group with discussion and generation of a code book and then individually to apply the coding scheme. Following completion of coding, evaluations were unblinded to gender, and percentages of codes by gender were calculated.


Results: A total of 448 evaluations representing 87 unique residents and 103 unique faculty were analyzed. 17 of the residents identified as men, with 88 evaluations total, and 70 identified as women, with 360 total evaluations. There was an average of 5.17 evaluations per male resident and 5.14 evaluations per female resident. The top 10 most frequent codes are presented in Table 1. Codes as a percentage of total evaluations per gender are presented in Figure 1.

Conclusion(s): There are differences in the way male and female residents are evaluated by faculty, including comments on personality and performance, and whether constructive and specific feedback was given. Future endeavors should seek to promote equity in evaluations of residents through faculty development or development of more specific criteria with which to complete evaluations. Identifying and addressing gender bias in resident evaluations could lead to greater interest in pursuing academic careers among female pediatricians.


Table 1: Most frequent codes applied


Codes Assigned by Percent of Total Evaluations per Gender of Resident

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Authors/Institutions: Jessica Gold, Stanford University School of Medicine/Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, San Mateo, California, United States; Hannah Keppler, Yeshiva University Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States; Lahia Yemane, Stanford School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, United States; Caroline Rassbach, Stanford, Stanford, California, United States