Original article
Education
Characteristics and Attitudes of Aspiring Cardiothoracic Surgeons: A Survey Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2021.01.040Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Although recruiting highly qualified, diverse applicants into cardiothoracic surgery remains a national priority, their characteristics remain unknown. This study aims to describe current and future applicants in cardiothoracic surgery.

Methods

Aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons (students interested in matriculating in a North American training program) were voluntarily enrolled in the study through Twitter and email outreach. A 33-question survey evaluated their backgrounds, research experiences, attitudes, and interests within cardiothoracic surgery. Standard descriptive statistics were used.

Results

There were 111 participants, 40 of whom were female (36.0%) and 27 of whom identified as an underrepresented minority (24.3%). Of the total, 63 belonged to an institution with a cardiothoracic surgery training program (56.8%). A total of 91 students envisioned having a mostly operative career (82.0%) and 75 envisioned pursuing educational roles (67.6%). The most popular surgical specialties were heart transplantation (50.5%) and aortic surgery (47.8%). Participants selected having a high-intensity operative environment (81.2%) and an innovative academic environment (58.8%) as the most attractive qualities. Perceived lack of work–life balance (46%) and toxic training or work environment (28%) were the greatest deterrents. Finances during the application process were perceived as a potential barrier by 41 students (36.9%). Approximately 75% of students (83 of 111) had faculty as mentors; 46.8% (56 of 111) thought that cardiothoracic surgery faculty were approachable but had limited time for mentorship.

Conclusions

This survey study characterized a nationally selected pool of aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons using social media. Future studies involving larger and more diverse cohorts are warranted to find areas for improvement in recruitment, retention, and diversity.

Section snippets

Survey

We created a 33-question electronic survey consisting of single and multiple answer questions to ascertain background characteristics, level of academic engagement, and type of training environment of aspiring CTS. For questions soliciting perceptions and preferences among a list of options, participants were asked to select the top 2 choices. Responses containing greater than 2 responses were excluded from analysis. This study was deemed exempt by the Institutional Review Board at the

Population characteristics

At the time of distribution, the @AspiringCTS Twitter account had approximately 1400 followers. The tweet containing the survey gathered 7622 impressions, 600 total engagements, and ultimately 111 respondents from 55 institutions representing 12 countries (Figure 1).4 Mean age of respondents was 26.2 ± 3.2 years and 40 of 111 were female (36%). Of the 111 respondents in the sample, 51 were Caucasian (46.0%), 32 were Asian (28.8%), and 15 were African American or Black (13.5%). A total of 27

Comment

In this survey study using social media to bring together a community of aspiring CTS, we characterized a diverse cohort with regard to both race and sex, with considerable interest in pursuing academic careers. Simultaneously, we identified potential barriers to their matriculation, ranging from their perceptions of work–life imbalance and malignant culture to a lack of finances.

Recruiting the best and the brightest into the field of cardiothoracic surgery should remain a national priority,

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