TEMPLATE DESIGN © O&G Training Recruitment: Are we at fault? Akmal Z Mohd Zahid, 1 Suzanna Daud, 1 Zaliha Ismail, 2 Bahiyah Abdullah 1 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia 2 Department of Population Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia Introduction There has been a global decline in trainee recruitment into O&G specialty which has partly been attributed to negative undergraduate learning experience 1,2 This is true especially for the male medical students. They have less clinical experience in performing vaginal and speculum examination compared to female students. 3 We designed this study to look at their actual clinical experience, patient refusal rate in dealing with them, student perception of treatment by other medical staff and also interest in pursuing O&G as a future career in comparison between male and female students. Objectives: 1) To determine the extent of gender bias among the students 2) To determine associated factors which may affect their learning experience Methods This is a cross-sectional survey conducted among medical students of a university in Klang Valley, Malaysia who have completed their O&G posting from August 2012 until August In O&G posting, students spent 8 weeks and 7 weeks in year 3 and year 5, respectively. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire anonymously on the last day of their clinical posting. Details on basic demographic (age, gender, ethnicity, religion), actual clinical experience, feeling of discrimination by medical staff and also their interest in pursuing O&G as a career were obtained. Questionnaire data were captured and analyzed using SPSS v18. Results A total of 423 questionnaires were distributed, 262 completed questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 62%. Of the responders, 29.4%(77/262) were males and 69.1%(181/262) were females. Majority 98.5%(258/262) were of Malay ethnicity and 1.5%(4/262) were of bumiputera origin. There were 55.3%(145/262) students from year 3 and 44.3%(116/262) students from year 5. Sociodemographic details: a) Sexb) Ethnicity c) Marital Statusd) Year of Medical School We found higher proportions of male students 71.4% compared to female students 57.5% reported that patients were more likely to refused (sometimes/always) to be clerked by them ( P = 0.035) * Chi-squared test Majority, 93.3% of male students also reported patients more likely to declined consent (sometimes/always) for internal examination compared to 67.6% in female students ( P <0.001). * Chi-squared test Conclusions References Surprisingly, the male students in our study group did not feel more discriminated because of their gender by the midwives and staff nurses. This is in contrast to previous study by Brown BC 5 that has described the perceived unhelpfulness of the midwives as one of the most important reasons for negative undergraduate experience particularly for male students, Results of our study supported the findings of other studies that male students are at disadvantage in gaining clinical skills in O&G. Surprisingly our study found that higher proportion of male students felt discriminated by the trainers. We must minimized gender discrimination and educational inequities experienced by male students. Improving students undergraduate experience will increase their satisfaction with clinical posting which in turn will make obstetrics and gynaecology an attractive career choice. OPTIONAL LOGO HERE 1.Queenan JT. The future of obstetrics and gynecology. Obstetrics and gynecology. Sep 2003;102(3): Turner G, Lambert TW, Goldacre MJ, Barlow D. Career choices for obstetrics and gynaecology: national surveys of graduates of from UK medical schools. BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology. Mar 2006;113(3): Akkad A, Bonas S, Stark P. Gender differences in final year medical students' experience of teaching of intimate examinations: a questionnaire study. BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology. Apr 2008;115(5): Chang JC, Odrobina MR, McIntyre-Seltman K. The effect of student gender on the obstetrics and gynecology clerkship experience. J Womens Health (Larchmt). Jan 2010;19(1): Brown BC, Vause S. A career in O&G? No thanks! BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology. Aug 2006;113(8):975. Objectives Results Male students reported higher proportion of discrimination against their gender by trainers compared to females but there was no discrimination between gender by staff nurses or house officers. Majority 58% of female students stated interest in pursuing O&G as future career compared to 31.2% male students ( P <0.001). Our study findings were in keeping with finding of other studies that male students have significantly less experience with intimate examinations compared to female students. 3 This is closely related to higher proportions of male students being refused their presence or involvement in patients’ medical care, and also being refused consent for clerking and performing internal examination 4 as was found in our study. One of the more alarming result of our study was male medical students also experience higher levels of discrimination against their gender by the trainers themselves who are medical officers and specialist/consultant compared to female students. Patients refusal to be clerkedX 2 (df)P value Never /Rarely N(%) Sometimes/ AlwaysN(%) 4.46(1)0.035 male22(28.6)55(71.4) female77(42.5)104(57.5) Discussion Refusal consent for internal examination X 2 (df)P value Never /Rarely N(%) Sometimes/ AlwaysN(%) 18.77(1)<0.001 male5(6.7)70(93.3) female58(32.4)121(67.6) Variables Students’ Never/rarely Sometimes / always X 2 (df)P value gender Community nurses JM male61(79.2)16(20.8) 1.910(1)0.167 female155(86.1)25(13.9) Staff nurse male62 (80.5)15 (19.5) 0.792(1)0.374 female153(85.0)27(15.0) House officer male67(87.0)10(13.0) (1)0.065 female169(93.9)11(6.1) Medical Officer male57(74.0)20 (26.0) 5.549(1)0.018 female156(86.2)25(13.8) Specialist/Consult ant male60(77.9)17(22.1) (1)<0.001 female172(95.68(4.4) Discussion