#MedBikini, Docs post Bikini Pics on Social Media in Protest of New Study
Researchers from Boston University and Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, created fake social media profiles to search for candidate applicants to vascular surgery programs for inappropriate statements, drinking, attire (including bikinis), HIPPA violations and derogatory comments about patients and colleges. The researchers presented the research at a conference last March. The study was recently published generating swift feedback as docs posted #MedBikini photos on social media to counter social shaming.
The reaction was swift. Female docs and outraged allies started posting on the hashtag #MedBikini with their beach and bikini pics.
How dare women behave in a way that would make them appear human, or relaxed, or happy? It’s not like they were drunk in the operating room or got trashed at an industry event with a whole bunch of their colleges.
Allies have chimed in too using the same hashtag
The study looked for specific items in their social media posts. Potentially unprofessional content included: holding/consuming alcohol, inappropriate attire, censored profanity, controversial political or religious comments, and controversial social topics.
235 accounts identified
- Eight accounts had offensive comments about patients or work colleges
- Fifty-eight reports showed people holding alcohol, maybe at a social function, as the same symposia that the paper was presented at?
- 22 accounts had controversial political comments
- Nine accounts had inappropriate/offensive attire. I have to say this is rich coming from doctors who spend their whole work life in scrubs and stupid but sanitary hats.
The study was presented, actually presented, last year at SOCIETY FOR CLINICAL VASCULAR SURGERY in Boca Ratton, Florida, at the 47th annual symposium in March 2019.
https://scvs.org/symposium/abstracts/2019/16.cgi, where it was nestled in among the presentations on DVT and removing unsightly spider veins.
I went online to the very conference that this study was presented to see if I could find some pics of docs with drinks. I was not disappointed.
#SCVS19 Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery 2019
I hope they were drunk already.
I am not going to judge a surgeon by their ability to walk in a line holding hands like a bunch of toddlers on their way to the playground, but maybe I should.
Below is a video that was taken at the happy hour from the conference, where doctors are seen drinking wine and carousing. HOW INAPPROPRIATE!
Do these docs ever spend time in sessions learning new medical techniques? If we are to put aside the massive hypocrisy of citing it as unprofessional than an off the clock doc, can’t have a drink in their hand at a function is just searching for stupid. But what bothered me about the whole sexist mess was the lack of women in the study.
When I looked at the study,I got stuck on one fact: 480 vascular surgeons identified, 325 (68%) were male. Only 32% were female. Where were the rest of the applicants?
When women make up most of the med school applications, in an increasingly diverse talent pool that has been growing steadily across almost all classes of students, why in the hippocampus are there 68% of the applicants male?
In the end, what this study revealed was how some men judge women. It is perfectly appropriate to wear a bikini on a beach but not appropriate to wear it in the surgical suite.
What I am concerned with is why women are being dissuaded from vascular surgery. Some have identified the length of training for a subspecialty and work-life balance as issues. Particular to women one study found:
“…the percentage of women pursuing careers in vascular surgery is not representative of the eligible workforce. Women are now the majority of graduates in all of higher education, and thus, vascular surgery may need to make a concerted effort to appeal to women in order to attract the most talented young professionals to the field.”
Other articles suggest that this has been a problem in the field for some time:
- Analysis of the current applicant pool to vascular surgery: who are they, and where do they come from? Eidt JF.Semin Vasc Surg. 2006 Dec;19(4):172–9. doi: 10.1053/j.semvascsurg.2006.08.003.PMID: 17178318 Review.
- A survey of demographics, motivations, and backgrounds among applicants to the integrated 0 + 5 vascular surgery residency. Lee JT, Teshome M, de Virgilio C, Ishaque B, Qiu M, Dalman RL.J Vasc Surg. 2010 Feb;51(2):496–502; discussion 502–3. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2009.08.076.PMID: 20022205
- Altering the career choice: can we attract more women to vascular surgery? Harris LM, Chaikof EL, Eidt JF.J Vasc Surg. 2007 Apr;45(4):846–8. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2006.12.072.PMID: 17398400 Clinical Trial.
While it is clear that attracting women to the field is an issue that has not changed in the last decade, we can’t overlook studies that look at social media posts and say that some of these people are unprofessional. The way I see it, we need all the vascular surgeons we can get. Boca Rotton is not getting any younger, and COVID has many vascular complications.
We should see this as a time to be all hands on deck and not to be picking through people’s social media for drink photos.
One author has already apologized, sort of:
It is time for these vino drinking hypocrites who wrote this study to retract it and apologize to their colleges.
