Determinants of career development in cardiology – results from a Swiss national survey

Wild, Mirjam G.; Dettmer, Susanne; Haeberlin, Andreas; Regitz-Zagrosek, Vera; Tanner, Hildegard (2021). Determinants of career development in cardiology – results from a Swiss national survey. Cardiovascular medicine, 24 EMH Swiss Medical Publishers Ltd 10.4414/CVM.2021.w10060

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BACKGROUND: Despite the rising proportion of female medical students and specialised female doctors in Switzerland, the field of cardiology remains one of the most male-dominated.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to identify determinants of and obstacles to career development for cardiologists with special regard to an academic and interventional career.

METHODS: Under the direction of the Swiss working group Women in Cardiology (IG-WIC), an online survey was conducted among Swiss cardiologists and cardiologists in training.

RESULTS: 140 participants (43.6% female, 56.4% male; median age 45.0) were included. Women were more often single (27.9% vs 10.1%, p = 0.013) and less likely to have children (52.5% vs 70.9%, p = 0.034). If they had children, they were more likely to provide childcare themselves (37.5% vs 10.7%, p = 0.006) or to have interrupted their work in favour of parenting (40.6% vs 8.9%, p <0.001). A majority of women indicated a negative impact of their gender on their career development (78.7%), and 36.3% reported sexual harassment at their workplace. Women felt less supported in their professional training, especially concerning research activities. As a hindrance for pursuit of a career in academic medicine, both sexes stated lack of compatibility of work and family (44.6%) and the competitive work environment (55.4%) being most important. Women also identified gender-specific disadvantages as one of the main reasons for not choosing an academic or interventional career.

CONCLUSIONS: The overall satisfaction among Swiss cardiologists is high regarding training in health care and the working atmosphere. However, women and men plead for better compatibility of work and family and better structured training curricula. Several gender-specific aspects hindering women from advancing in cardiology training should be addressed.

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