Identifying Interventions for Recruitment of Women into Medical Residency Programs: A Scoping Review

Scope and Objective: Diversity, equity, and inclusion continues to be an important topic in medicine and has gained increased attention in the last decade. Matriculating medical school classes have shown equal gender distribution since 2013, yet significant discrepancies among certain medical residencies persist. We investigated several specialties and their interventions to increase gender diversity in effort to increase representation of female residents.

Methods: Literature search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Web of Science. Included studies were systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, retrospective database reviews, clinical trials, literature reviews, case-control studies, cross-sectional analyses, and cohort studies, between the years 2018-2023, and conducted within the United States. The data was imported into Rayaan, and two independent investigators screened records for inclusion criteria in a masked, duplicate fashion. Investigators then completed a data extraction form that identified the intervention used. The initial database search yielded 1,663 articles, and 29 met inclusion criteria.

Results: The majority of the articles discussed program faculty or staffing changes, followed by mentorship and increased medical student exposure. Of the included studies, 86.2% demonstrated a positive influence on female recruitment when interventions were implemented.

Conclusions: Although achieving gender equality in medical specialties remains an ongoing challenge, we have identified interventions that guide us towards progress. Equal representation of women among all medical specialties is vital for improved patient care and diverse perspectives, therefore, continuing to evaluate and implement interventions to improve equality is needed.