Female neurosurgery in Oman: a survey of the current status

Abstract

Abstract Background The neurosurgery specialty is demanding where a high level of competence and expertise is needed (1). In Oman, there is an increasing interest in neurosurgery among Omani Medical Students and Interns; nonetheless, numerous variables continue to influence their decision-making (3). Aim This study aims to explore the current status of women in neurosurgery in Oman, their interest in the specialty, and the factors that influence their decision to pursue it. Method This is a cross-sectional study that conducted by using survey. The survey was sent to 200 Omani female medical students in Sultan Qaboos university (SQU), National University (NU) and Omani medical students from International Medical Colleges (IMC). The questionnaire consists of two sections. The first section was about demographic information. Whereas the other section was about different factors that may affect student attitude toward neurosurgery. Results The total number of participants who filled out the questionnaire completely was 128. The highest number of students was from SQU 61.7%, followed by NU 22.7%, and IMC students 15.6%. The study showed that the absence of neurosurgery residency in Oman tended to make neurosurgery a challenging career option for female doctors(p = 0.81), although not statistically significant. Moreover, 75.3% agreed that neurosurgery as a career option is a limited opportunity in Oman. Neurosurgery nature may affect considering neurosurgery as a female future career. For example, most of the students agreed that neurosurgery requires a long training period (98.9%), neurosurgery has huge prestige and income (90.3%), and neurosurgery can affect family and social life (77.4%). Conclusion Improving the presence of female neurosurgery can be achieved by increasing medical students’ exposure to neurosurgery rotation and having neurosurgery residency in Oman.

Keywords

• Female
• Women
• Neurosurgery
• Oman