title: A current assessment of diversity characteristics and perceptions of their importance in the surgical workforce.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diversity in the workforce is vital to successful businesses. Healthcare in general has suffered from a lack of cultural competence, which is the ability to successfully interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds. In order to eliminate discrimination and build a diverse workforce, physicians' perceptions and importance of diversity need to be measured.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 25-item, anonymous, online questionnaire was created, and a cross-sectional survey was performed. The instrument consisted of demographic and Likert-style questions which attempted to determine the participants' perceptions of the current level of diversity in their specialty and their perceived importance of particular diversity categories.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 1,000 responses were received from US-based physicians across all specialties and levels of training. Statistically significant differences existed between surgical and nonsurgical specialties with regard to gender, prior work experience, and political identity. In the surgical workforce, there is significant perceived homogeneity regarding gender/sexual identity. Surgical respondents also deemed gender/sexual identity diversity to be less important than respondents from medical specialties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgeons and surgical trainees are less diverse than their medical colleagues, both by demographics and self-acknowledgement. The long-term impact and potential barriers to resolve these differences in diversity require further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave. A100, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA, frenchj2@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Judith C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: O'Rourke
authors.forename: R Matthew
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Walsh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054521:Cultural Competency; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006280:Health Workforce / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians; D012649:Self Concept; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
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