[Gender-Specific and Cross-Gender Reasons for Choosing 'Surgeon' as a Career - A Scoping Review].

Introduction: The availability of highly qualified surgical staff in Germany has been a challenge for years. Despite various initiatives to increase the attractiveness of surgical training programs, there are still problems in attracting motivated and qualified doctors to surgery. In order to develop customized offers for recruiting junior staff, the decision-making factors must be known.

Objective: To present the gender-specific and cross-gender reasons for choosing a surgical specialist training program.

Method: As part of a scoping review, studies were identified using PubMed and a subsequent reverse search to answer the research question. Data extracted from the studies were summarized narratively and categories were defined.

Results: The analysis of 12 studies revealed that men and women wanted to become a surgeon based on the characteristics of the surgical specialty, personal factors and factors related to the training position. Gender-specific differences were also identified.

Conclusion: Specific measures are proposed to promote the next generation of surgeons.