The joy of surgery: how gender influences surgeons’ experiences

Burnout in medicine is an epidemic, and surgeons are not immune. Studies often focus on negative factors leading to burnout, with less emphasis on optimizing joy. The purpose of this study, conducted by the SAGES Reimagining the Practice of Surgery Task Force, was to explore how gender may influence surgeon well-being to better inform organizational change.

The study team developed a survey with the domains: facilitators of joy, support for best work, time for work tasks, barriers to joy, and what they would do with more time. The survey was emailed to 5777 addresses on the SAGES distribution list. Results were analyzed by calculating summary statistics.

223 surgeons completed the survey; 62.3% identified as men, 32.3% as women, and 5.4% did not indicate gender. Female compared to male respondents were younger (41.6 vs 52.5 years) and had practiced for fewer years (8.4 vs 19.4 years). The three greatest differences in facilitators of joy were being a leader in the field, leading clinical teams, and teaching, with a > 10 percentage point difference between men/women rating these highly (score of ≥ 8). Women generally perceived less support from their institutions than men. The greatest gender difference was in support for teaching, with 52.8% of men rating this highly compared to 30.2% of women. Only 52% of women felt respected by coworkers most of the time compared to 68.3% of men. Most (96.0%) respondents (men 95.7% and women 98.6%) reported wanting more time with family and friends.

This study demonstrates the complexity of the personal and professional factors that influence joy in surgery, highlight gender differences that impact joy and suggests opportunities for improved gender-based support. These results can inform potential organization-level changes and further research to better understand emerging differences in joy across gender identities.