Positive association of a women’s continuing medical education conference on career advancement and promotion

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Shivani Mukkamala, Emory University; Priscila Rodrigues Armijo, University of Nebraska; Laura Flores, University of Nebraska; Sasha K. Shillcutt, University of Nebraska
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-09-17
• Publisher: Co-Action Publishing
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2021.1981127
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Medical Education Online
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 1
• Grant/Funding Information: The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.
• Keywords: continuing medical education; physician support structures; gender equity; women physicians; Women in medicine
• Research Categories: Gender Studies; Health Sciences, Education; Health Sciences, Health Care Management

Abstract

Women physicians are underrepresented in leadership positions across medical specialties. Understanding factors that improve women’s promotion metrics may lead to career and leadership advancement. This study examined if a woman-centered Continuing Medical Education (CME) conference is associated with differences in productivity metrics toward career advancement. The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey study of women physicians attending a national woman-centered CME conference for professional growth, wellness and networking in September 2019. The survey measured promotion metrics achieved in the year prior to the conference and compared them with previous attendees. Of 425 women attendees of the conference, 389 (91.5%) respondents completed the survey. Respondents were divided into two groups for analysis: first time (FT) attendees, and those that attended the conference previously (PV). In the year preceding the survey, PV attendees were more likely to have published a manuscript as first-author or co-author in a peer-reviewed journal (17.5% vs. 9.7%, p = 0.029), given a talk in their area of practice (48.3% vs. 27.9%, p < 0.001) and to have mentored at least one peer (40.8% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.009) and to have asked for a promotion (15.8% vs. 8.6%, p = 0.033) than FT. As compared to first-time conference attendees, women physicians who previously attended a woman-centered CME conference were more likely to achieve career performance metrics including publications and speaking engagements in the preceding year. This study demonstrated a positive association of Women-centered CME conferences in career advancement metrics for women in medicine and suggests further studies on this and other women-centered CME conferences.