title: Perceptions of surgeons: what characteristics do women surgeons prefer in a colleague?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Perceptions underlie bias and drive behavior. This study assessed female surgeons' implicit perceptions of surgeons, with a focus on the roles of sex and demeanor (communal = supportive, associated with women; agentic = assertive, associated with men).
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic surveys were administered via the Association of Women Surgeons e-mail listserve to 550 post-training female surgeons. Each survey had one of the 4 possible scenarios that varied by surgeon sex (male/female) and surgeon demeanor (agentic/communal). Respondents rated their perception of the surgeon through 5 questions regarding preference and 5 questions regarding professional opinion (1 to 5 scale).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We received 212 surveys. In both preference and professional scores, female surgeons were rated significantly higher compared with their male counterparts (4.7 vs 4.4 and 4.3 vs 4.0, respectively). Communal surgeons were rated significantly higher versus agentic surgeons in both scores (4.7 vs 4.4 and 4.6 vs 3.7).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Female surgeons demonstrated a significant preference for female surgeons and for communal surgeons.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Marie N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Dusch
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Hillary J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Research and Development in Medical Education, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. Electronic address: nancy.ascher@ucsfmedctr.org.
authors.forename: Nancy L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Ascher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000523:psychology*; D013043:Specialties, Surgical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Demeanor; Perception; Sex; Surgeon