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Priority strategies to improve gender equity in Canadian emergency medicine: proceedings from the CAEP 2021 Academic Symposium on leadership

  • CAEP Academic Symposium Paper
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Abstract

Objectives

Gender inequities are deeply rooted in our society and have significant negative consequences. Female physicians experience numerous gender-related inequities (e.g., microaggressions, harassment, violence). These inequities have far-reaching consequences on health, well-being and career longevity and may result in the devaluing of various strengths that female emergency physicians bring to the table. This, in turn, has an impact on patient healthcare experience and outcomes. During the 2021 Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Academic Symposium, a national collaborative sought to understand gender inequities in emergency medicine in Canada.

Methods

We used a multistep stakeholder-engagement-based approach (harnessing both quantitative and qualitative methods) to identify and prioritize problems with gender equity in emergency medicine in Canada. Based on expert consultation and literature review, we developed recommendations to effect change for the higher priority problems. We then conducted a nationwide consultation with the Canadian emergency medicine community via online engagement and the CAEP Academic Symposium to ensure that these priority problems and solutions were appropriate for the Canadian context.

Conclusion

Via the above process, 15 recommendations were developed to address five unique problem areas. There is a dearth of research in this important area and we hope this preliminary work will serve as a starting point to fuel further research. To facilitate these scholarly endeavors, we have appended additional documents identifying other key problems with gender equity in emergency medicine in Canada as well as proposed next steps for future research.

Résumé

Objectifs

Les inégalités entre les sexes sont profondément ancrées dans notre société et ont des conséquences négatives importantes. Les femmes médecins subissent de nombreuses inégalités liées au genre (par exemple, microagressions, harcèlement, violence). Ces inégalités ont des conséquences considérables sur la santé, le bien-être et la longévité de la carrière et peuvent entraîner la dévalorisation des différents atouts que les femmes médecins urgentistes apportent à la table. Ceci, à son tour, a un impact sur l’expérience et les résultats des soins de santé des patients. Au cours du Symposium académique 2021 de l’Association canadienne des médecins d’urgence (ACMU), une collaboration nationale a cherché à comprendre les inégalités entre les sexes en médecine d’urgence au Canada.

Méthodes

Nous avons utilisé une approche en plusieurs étapes basée sur l’engagement des parties prenantes (en utilisant des méthodes quantitatives et qualitatives) pour identifier et classer par ordre de priorité les problèmes d’équité entre les sexes en médecine d’urgence au Canada. À partir d’une consultation d’experts et d’une revue de la littérature, nous avons élaboré des recommandations visant à apporter des changements aux problèmes les plus prioritaires. Nous avons ensuite mené une consultation nationale auprès de la communauté canadienne de médecine d’urgence par le biais d’un engagement en ligne et du symposium universitaire de l’ACMU afin de nous assurer que ces problèmes prioritaires et ces solutions étaient adaptés au contexte canadien.

Conclusion

Grâce au processus ci-dessus, 15 recommandations ont été élaborées pour traiter 5 domaines problématiques uniques. Il existe un manque de recherche dans ce domaine important et nous espérons que ce travail préliminaire servira de point de départ pour alimenter d’autres recherches. Pour faciliter ces efforts de recherche, nous avons annexé d’autres documents identifiant d’autres problèmes clés en matière d’équité entre les sexes en médecine d’urgence au Canada, ainsi que des propositions d’étapes pour de futures recherches.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) for providing the academic symposium venue for this important work to take place. We would like to acknowledge the work of our collaborators who helped to identify and describe problems related to gender equity in emergency medicine in Canada. In addition, this group has offered their comments and feedback on various iterations of this work. Thank you to Drs. Brittany Cameron, Paula Cameron, Joan Cheng, Eileen Cheung, Roisin Dempsey, Sara Gray, Nour Khatib, Kelly Lien, Kelsey MacLeod, Shauna Martiniuk, Wanda Millard, Marika Moskalyk, Anna Karolina Nowacki, Nadia Primiani, Anita Pozgay, Nidhi Sahi, Lisa Salamon, Sheryl Seidman, Sydney Tam and Michelle Yee

Funding

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Discipline of Emergency Medicine, Memorial University, 300 Prince Phillip Drive, St. John’s, NL, A1B3V6, Canada

    Emma McIlveen-Brown

  2. Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Judy Morris

  3. Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Rodrick Lim

  4. Department of Emergency Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Kirsten Johnson

  5. Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada

    Alyson Byrne

  6. Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Taylor Bischoff

  7. Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Katrina Hurley

  8. Stratford General Hospital, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Miriam Mann

  9. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Isabella Menchetti & Ayesha Zia

  10. Division of Emergency Medicine, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Alim Pardhan

  11. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Chau Pham

  12. Discipline of Emergency Medicine, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada

    Gillian Sheppard

  13. Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Teresa M. Chan

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  1. Emma McIlveen-Brown
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  2. Judy Morris
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  3. Rodrick Lim
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  4. Kirsten Johnson
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  6. Taylor Bischoff
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  7. Katrina Hurley
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  8. Miriam Mann
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  9. Isabella Menchetti
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  10. Alim Pardhan
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  11. Chau Pham
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  14. Teresa M. Chan
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Contributions

EMB, JM, RL and TMC designed the study and directed data collection and interpretation of data. They were also involved in creating intellectual content and drafting and revising the final work which they stand by. KJ, AB, TB, KH, MM, IM, AP, CP, JS and AZ were involved in creating intellectual content for subsections of the work. They have also reviewed data acquisition tools, and given their approval and feedback to the final draft of this work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emma McIlveen-Brown.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

An exemption was granted from the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board after a review.

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McIlveen-Brown, E., Morris, J., Lim, R. et al. Priority strategies to improve gender equity in Canadian emergency medicine: proceedings from the CAEP 2021 Academic Symposium on leadership. Can J Emerg Med 24, 151–160 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43678-021-00245-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43678-021-00245-1

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