Original articleEducationCharacteristics and Attitudes of Aspiring Cardiothoracic Surgeons: A Survey Study
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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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