Radiology continues to be a male-dominated specialty, but new evidence suggests women commit fewer errors. The insight may help attract female rads and narrow the field’s gender disparity.
Women make up 30% of practicing radiologists, with female specialists earning 33% less than their male counterparts. These facts, along with gender stereotypes and fewer role models, create the notion that women are less suited for the specialty, experts explained Tuesday in JACR.
New data show, however, that female rads are less likely to commit clinically significant errors compared to men. This may be due to the gender’s higher likelihood of following reporting guidelines, as has been shown in prior studies.
“Our results on error rates help fighting gender stereotypes that may be contributing to the current gender imbalance,” Paula Alcaide-Leon, MD, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Medical Imaging, and co-authors wrote. “Institutions can use this information to create a more appealing working environment for women to attract a larger number of them into radiology as well as increase retention of female radiologists,” they added later.
For their retrospective evaluation, the authors assessed reporting cases from radiologists employed by a large European teleradiology provider between 2013 and 2019. Overall, 213 rads were involved, with 36% comprising women.
The authors found female rads had a narrower scope of practice, reporting in more than one specialty less often compared to their male peers. There’s no single explanation for this trend, the authors noted, adding it may be specific to their teleradiology practice workflow.
Additionally, the median rate of second opinion requests among women was three times that reported among men. Further multivariate analysis did find gender as a significant factor in this trend, however.
“In conclusion, our study shows that women practice radiology different than men,” Alcaide-Leon et al. wrote, adding that scope of practice differences suggest women may prefer more subspecialized radiology work.
Read the full study here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.