COVID made training inequities worse for female surgeons

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-09-19 00:01

New Zealand

PHOTO: Husien Bisky on Unsplash

Females training to be eye surgeons did 25% fewer surgeries than usual during COVID, while male trainees were not affected. Researchers found that male trainee surgeons were already doing more surgeries than females before COVID, but that this difference got even worse during the pandemic. This was especially the case for females in cities compared to in rural areas. The researchers said that we need to make sure male and female surgeons get the same training, even during big events like the pandemic.

Media release

From: Pasifika Medical Association Group

Gender disparity and the impact of COVID-19 on surgical training in New Zealand ophthalmology

Our study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic affected surgical training for New Zealand’s future eye surgeons (ophthalmology trainees), focusing on differences between genders and hospital locations (urban vs. provincial). We found that while trainees were present for a similar number of operations, the number of surgeries they actually performed dropped significantly during the pandemic. This negative impact was felt almost entirely by female trainees working in urban hospitals, whose hands-on surgical opportunities decreased substantially, while other groups were largely unaffected. Our findings suggest that major healthcare disruptions can worsen inequalities in surgical training and highlight a need to ensure fair opportunities for all trainees, particularly women in urban-based programs.

Journal/
conference: New Zealand Medical Journal

Organisation/s: Waikato DHB Hospital, NZ

Funder: No funding declared.

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