Perceptions of Orthopaedics and the Effect of Stereotypes on Medical Students

Abstract

Introduction: Orthopaedic surgery is the least diverse of all medical specialties. While the overall medical student population has shifted to a female majority, orthopaedics has not made the same progress. Are stereotypes of the specialty influencing medical students?

Methods: A survey was distributed to incoming and current medical students at a singular institution's medical school. The survey examined opinions on the field of orthopaedics and how social media plays a part in perpetuating stereotypes of orthopaedics.

Results: There were a total of 261 completed survey responses, for a response rate of approximately 32.6%. Eighty-eight percent of students have seen a social media portrayal of orthopaedics. These portrayals negatively affected the opinions of 56% of the medical students. Students with no previous exposure to orthopaedics were more likely to have an unfavorable opinion of the field.

Conclusions: Previous exposure to the field, whether before or during medical school, was associated with a more favorable opinion. Most medical students surveyed have seen social media portrayals that have negatively affected their outlook on the field of orthopaedics. Those with some first-hand orthopaedic experience before or during medical school were more likely to have a favorable opinion on the field. Female students were more likely to be deterred from orthopaedic surgery due to these stereotypes.

Level of evidence: Level V. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Fig. 1

Demographics of all respondents are shown here. A majority of medical students who chose to participate in the survey identified as Caucasian or White.

Fig. 2

The breakdown of which students have seen social media portrayals of the orthopaedic surgery field. A majority of those surveyed reported that they have seen stereotypes portrayed on social media.

Fig. 3

Respondents reported if the stereotypes they have seen affect the way they view the specialty. A majority reported that the stereotypes of orthopaedics negatively affected their opinion.

Fig. 4

This word cloud summarizes the free response answers to the question “What stereotypes, if any, have you heard about those in the field of orthopaedics?” Size of the words corresponds with frequency of the answer, i.e., “bros” was the most common answer.

Fig. 5

This chart, stratified by gender, reports how rotating students' opinions on orthopaedic surgery changed after their rotation.

Fig. 6

This chart, stratified by gender, shows how rotating students described their experience when rotating in the orthopaedic department.