Women physicians and the COVID-19 pandemic: gender-based impacts and potential interventions.

Aim: These are extraordinary times caused by the first global pandemic in our modern era. Physicians and other frontline healthcare providers face unique challenges, for which they have had little formal preparation. This combination of challenge and deficit leads to significant negative impacts, not only on what medical practices and health care systems can deliver to the public, but also on the individual healthcare providers themselves.Methods: In this essay, we specifically address women physicians, and explore the considerable impact they bear from the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the contexts of response to stress, social isolation, work-life integration, and autonomy. Because the language we use is important, we think it necessary to clarify that when we refer to 'women physicians,' we are referring to physicians that self-identify as women, and we acknowledge that not all the references we cite may use the same definition.Results: We offer several potential interventions that turn the challenges women physicians are facing into opportunities to address longstanding inequity. These interventions include tackling barriers to work-life balance, addressing gender and maternal bias, and promoting women physician representation in leadership.Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to become a chronic part of our lives; protecting vulnerable populations, such as women physicians, through thoughtful intervention is paramount.KEY MESSAGESWomen physicians experience considerable adversity during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the contexts of response to stress, social isolation, work-life integration, and autonomy.These challenges create opportunities for interventions to improve equity in medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the long-term, including tackling barriers to work-life balance, addressing gender and maternal bias, and promoting women physician representation in leadership.

Evaluation of the Pandemic Management and Treatment Approaches of the Doctors in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Online Cross-sectional Study from Türkiye

Objectives: This study was planned to evaluate the perspectives, experiences, and methods followed by physicians on the treatment and management of COVID-19 infection, which affects the whole world. Methods: In this study, in which physicians were included in the study, a questionnaire consisting of 21 questions was conducted in the electronic environment. The questionnaire questions included the treatment methods applied by the physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic, the guidelines they followed and their own clinical experiences. Results: Our study was conducted with a total of 200 physicians, 72 (36.0%) men and 128 (64.0%) women. The mean age of the physicians was 36.54±7.40 years. In the management and treatment of COVID-19 patients, 78.5% of the participants preferred to use the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Outbreak Management and Study Guide (MHCOMSG) and 60.5% preferred to use the current international guidelines. In the oxygen support management of hypoxemic patients, 53.5% of the participants preferred to follow their personal experience and experience, 52.5% of them preferred to follow the MHCOMSG, 51% of them preferred to follow the current international guidelines. There is a statistically significant relationship between the duration of professional experience, the institution where the employee is working and treatment management preferences. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic process, physicians preferred to follow the MHCOMSG in treatment and patient management. It is important for health-care professionals to follow new developments closely and to make updates on COVID-19 published online by official government health officials in terms of health workers' preferences in accessing information. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR]

Pandemic Challenges and Opportunities for Gender Equity in Clinical Research: Industry must act now to minimize the effects of COVID-era disparity on R&D

The article reports that he COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked global havoc, with millions of lives lost. The effects of the pandemic on healthcare workers have been especially severe in terms of mortality, burnout, and diversion from non-pandemic critical work. This impact has also been felt in clinical research, just as the importance of clinical research has become obvious to the general public from the wide reporting of trials of drug.

Discriminatory Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women Physicians

The impact of gender and women's traditional roles in society has been particularly pronounced during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We conducted an online survey to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic responsibilities among Indian physicians to look for gender-based differences by collecting data regarding domestic work and childcare, changes in work patterns, and lack of domestic help during the pandemic and the resultant nationwide lockdown. Through this study, we reported the results of a nationwide survey and showed how gender gaps exist, even within highly qualified professionals such as physicians, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has widened this gap. Our study showed statistically higher contribution by women physicians as compared to men not only in the increased domestic work, but also when it came to childcare and education. More women than men were forced to take additional leave and quit their jobs due to the increased domestic responsibilities. In addition to highlighting the difficulties faced by the physician community as a whole due to nonavailability of domestic help and childcare facilities, this survey demonstrated the intense challenges women physicians face as they try to navigate the work-life balance dilemma by providing care to their families as well as patients. Our study highlighted the need to re-examine the specific challenges faced by women physicians and identify means to support and empower them.

How Has the Pandemic Affected Women in Medicine? A Survey-Based Study on Perceptions of Personal and Career Impacts of COVID-19.

Background: Gender inequity is apparent for women in medicine. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are concerns about how women physicians are personally and professionally impacted. Materials and Methods: Participants of the Women in Medicine Summit were anonymously surveyed about their perspectives about COVID-19 affecting women in medicine. Questions were centered around perceived gender bias, productivity expectations, and stressors. Results: At the Women in Medicine Summit, 454 attendees were invited to complete the survey with a response rate of 27% (n = 124). Of those participants, 46% of participants perceived gender bias in the workplace, with 39% citing further inequities with intersectional identities (p < 0.05). Productivity expectations were reported to be higher than before the pandemic in 41% of survey participants. The majority of respondents (70%) reported experiencing high levels of stress during the pandemic, compared with only 16% reporting high levels of stress before the pandemic (p < 0.05). Discussion: It is clear that women physicians are experiencing the pandemic differently. Gender bias is a common occurrence, especially by individuals with intersectional identities. These stressors are not new to women in medicine, but with the overriding impact of the pandemic, higher expectations for productivity, and increased personal responsibilities, employers should focus on preventing further exacerbations of gender inequity in medicine.

Work Patterns of Women Physicians During Vacation: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Burnout and poor work-life integration (WLI) are prevalent among women physicians. Vacation may help alleviate burnout and improve WLI but working while on vacation may negate these potential benefits. Little is known about the work patterns of women physicians on vacation, and we attempted to further characterize it in this study. Methods: In this online cross-sectional study of 498 members of the Physician Women in Leadership Facebook Group, we collected demographic information, information regarding burnout/WLI, self-reported work patterns while on vacation, and perceived impact of working during vacation on burnout/WLI. We also asked about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these behaviors. Results: At baseline, 37.5% of respondents reported burnout and 58.4% reported lack of satisfaction with WLI. About 94.4% of respondents reported engaging in some level of work-related behavior while on vacation (primarily answering work-related emails and participating in work-related meetings), but 73.3% reported that such engagement was detrimental to their mental health and WLI. About 66.3% reported an increase in at least one work-related behavior on vacation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents identified and/or endorsed multiple strategies to reduce work-related engagement on vacation, many involving good modeling by leadership and/or national associations. Conclusions: Engagement in work-related behavior while on vacation is almost universal among women physicians, but most feel that it has negative effects on mental health and WLI. Strategies to encourage reduced engagement should be developed/strengthened and endorsed/modeled by those in leadership.