Impact of surgeon race, ethnicity, and gender on perceptions of professional behavior in the operating room

Abstract

Introduction

Surgeons’ behaviors may be perceived differentially by operating room (OR) personnel, and implicit biases may have potential impact on those perceptions. We aimed to characterize OR team responses to surgeon behaviors based on perceived demographic traits of the surgeon.

Methods

This multi-institutional, randomized study surveyed OR personnel responses to five scenarios of surgeon behaviors. Participants were randomized to six different surgeon descriptors, with gender, race, and ethnicity implied by name. Chi-squared analyses assessed differences in responses.

Results

296 individuals completed the survey, with responses found to be dependent on perceived surgeon demographics. In scenarios describing an impatient surgeon and shouting surgeon, Black woman (BW) and Hispanic woman (HW) surgeons’ behaviors were seen as more inappropriate (p ​≤ ​0.01 for both). Respondents were more likely to report BW surgeons arriving late for surgery (p ​< ​0.01), and directly address Black and Hispanic surgeons omitting the time-out (p ​= ​0.03).

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the demographic associations with perceptions of surgeon behaviors, with gender and race resulting in harsher expectations of Black women. Work is needed to better understand and mitigate such inequities.