Abstract
Background
North Carolina, as a state with a significant Black population and fast-growing Hispanic
population, serves as bellwether of demographic changes nationally and the challenges
facing the nation to recruit and retain a general surgery workforce that mirrors the
population.
Methods
Annual licensure data from the North Carolina Medical Board were analyzed between
2004 and 2019. Physicians self-reporting a specialty of abdominal surgery, critical
care surgery, colon and rectal surgery, general surgery, trauma surgery, proctology,
and surgical oncology were categorized as general surgeons.
Results
Female surgeons made the most gains from 2004, at just 8% of the workforce in 2004
to 26% of the workforce in 2019. Over the same period, Black surgeons increased from
just 5% to 6% of the workforce, with those gains largely represented by Black female
surgeons. Almost half of North Carolina’s Black physicians are aged 46 and 55 and
will be nearing retirement in the coming decade. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Hispanic
general surgeons were 45 or younger, and one-third of these young surgeons were international
medical graduates.
Conclusion
Although the general surgery workforce in North Carolina is slowly diversifying, growth
in the Black surgeon workforce has stagnated in the last 15 years at levels much lower
than their representation in the population. More research is needed on the individual
and life course phenomena that drive this underrepresentation.
Graphical abstract
Graphical Abstract
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 20, 2021
Accepted:
February 4,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
