Better Together: Moving Towards Gender Equity in Emergency Medicine
Course dates:
April 4th, 18th and 25th, 2023 – 7:00 PM ET (Cancelled)
Registration fees:
CAEP member, physician – $400
Non-CAEP member, physician – $550
CAEP member, resident & allied health – $150
Non-CAEP member, resident & allied health – $200
CAEP member, student – $150
Non-CAEP member, student – $200
Self-learning modules to be completed prior to virtual live sessions.
This course is designed for family medicine residents completing a certificate of added competence in emergency medicine, emergency medicine residents, and physicians who practice emergency medicine in Canada and around the world.
The CAEP Women in Emergency Medicine committee has designed this course to give physicians foundational knowledge in how female and non-binary trainees and physicians experience discrimination throughout medical training and in practice. We acknowledge that gender identity is unique for every individual. We also acknowledge that experiences of discrimination are intersectional. Women and non-binary individuals are more likely to experience discrimination if they identify with another equity-seeking group. This course focuses primarily on individuals who identify as female or non-binary.
Accreditation:
RCPSC
“This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and approved by Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians. You may claim a maximum of 4.5 hours (credits are automatically calculated).”
CFPC
This 1-credit-per-hour Group Learning program has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada for up to 4.5 Mainpro+ credits.
Overall Learning Objectives:
1. Define gender equality, gender equity and the gender wage gap
2. Describe strategies to combat stereotype threat for individuals and organizations
3. Compare and contrast the barriers and progress women face in attaining leadership positions in EM
4. List 5 strategies for allyship for gender equity in EM
Virtual Live Sessions
Leadership Advancement – Dr. Carolyn Snider
Organizational structure, policies, and scheduling expectations disincentivize women who want to achieve clinical and academic leadership positions. Traditional leadership roles usually imply demanding schedules with no leave of absence accepted during their terms. The inflexibility of these positions discourages women and non-binary people from applying and may limit their success in attaining leadership positions, especially if they are planning parental leave or have family obligations. Parental leaves and those related to other caregiving responsibilities can have a further negative impact on women and non-binary physician’s leadership advancement as they are often seen as unproductive periods of time on a resume, instead of being viewed as normal life stages.
Session Objectives:
- Define the “leaky pipe-line” and identify specific reasons that deter women from pursuing leadership in academia.
- Recognize factors that current women leaders practice to help continue and advance in their leadership role.
- Describe the value of mentorship in building women leaders in medicine.
Systems and Policies – Dr. Tara Kiran
Gender bias contributes to the wage gap among emergency physicians. In fee for service environments, women and non-binary people often do more unpaid labour than their cis-male counterparts. For instance, there are gender differences in the amount of time patients expect physicians will spend with them, the amount of nursing support offered (e.g. help setting up for procedures) and in interactions with consultants (e.g. requests for additional history or ancillary tests). Women and non- binary physicians working in other payment models may also lack pay equity, due to variability in salary negotiations, academic salary support and/or other benefits (Cohen & Kiran, 2020).
Session Objectives:
- Recognize that gender pay disparities exist within the specialty of emergency medicine.
- Identify factors that contribute to pay inequity in medicine.
- Identify methods to close the gender pay gap.
- Identify strategies beyond closing the pay gap that can be implemented through systems and policies to reduce gender disparities (ex. family-friendly policies, gender equity in promotion)
Trainees – Dr. Isabella Menchetti
Medical training opportunities can be influenced by people’s expressed gender. Staff and/or patients often look first to cis-male residents for clinical leadership, particularly in resuscitation scenarios. This can result in a loss of vital opportunity for women and non-binary trainees to exercise leadership and make independent, time-sensitive decisions. This can result in reluctance from women and non-binary physicians to take on high stakes clinical roles such as Trauma Team Leader after residency, which further compounds the issue.
Session Objectives:
- Define stereotype threat.
- Recognize the presence of implicit bias and stereotype threat in the emergency medicine community.
- Describe factors within emergency medicine that make female trainees susceptible to stereotype threat.
- Distinguish consequences of implicit bias and stereotype threat and how it can influence and interfere with the personal and professional development/advancement of emergency medicine trainees.
- Propose and develop interventions and future areas of research for the individual (i.e. growth mindset) and for institutions (i.e. introducing the concept of stereotype threat to the academic emergency medicine community) to combat stereotype threat
Gender Bias – Dr. Ayesha Zia
Women and non-binary emergency physicians encounter microaggressions and other subtle gendered barriers in the day-to-day professional culture of Emergency Medicine. For instance, women and non-binary physicians are less often referred to as “doctor” by patients, nurses and other physicians. In addition, women and non-binary physicians experience more unprofessional comments (e.g. about age, appearance or marital status) than their cis-male counterparts while at work.
Session Objectives:
- Recognize that gender bias exists within emergency medicine.
- Identify specific behaviors that society has placed for the female gender and understand how these roles create conflict for female physicians.
- Differentiate between explicit vs. implicit bias.
- Describe bias training and its role in addressing implicit gender bias and initiating change.
Allyship – Dr. Alim Pardhan & Dr. Joan Cheng
There is a lack of education supporting men in Emergency Medicine to become allies for women and non-binary colleagues. Research suggests that when cis-men advocate for diversity, their advocacy efforts are more successful than when shouldered by women and non-binary people who may be viewed negatively for engaging in this work (Hekman, Johnson, Foo & Yang, 2016). Examples of allyship include men sponsoring women for leadership positions, championing diversity and inclusion committees, as well as correcting gender bias in clinical work (e.g. correcting patients who make inappropriate comments or fail to recognize women and non-binary trainees as physicians).
Session Objectives:
- Define allyship.
- Identify action items that male allies can undertake to help advocate for their women colleagues.
- Define sponsorship including it’s critical role in advancement for women and recognize how men can sponsor women for leadership positions.
- Differentiate the difference between mentorship and sponsorship.
Questions? Contact Shanna Sariyildiz (ssariyildiz@caep.ca).