• Melody Scheefer Van Boerum, Angela F Jarman, Jacob Veith, McCarty AllenChelseaCStudy Design and Biostatistics Center, Division of Epidemiology, University of Utah, 295 Chipeta Way, Salt Lake City, UT, 84122, USA., Kathleen A Holoyda, Cori Agarwal, Courtney Crombie, and Amalia Cochran.
• Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, 30 N 1900 E #3B400, Salt Lake City, UT, 84132, USA. Electronic address: melody.vanboerum@hsc.utah.edu.
• Am. J. Surg. 2020 Nov 1; 220 (5): 1351-1357.

BackgroundIn a surgical field, where surgeons are, "sometimes wrong, but never in doubt," lack of confidence can have detrimental effects on career advancement. In other fields there is evidence that a gap exists between women and men in the amount of confidence they display, and that confidence is a proxy for success.MethodsThis study used the General Self Efficacy Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale confidence surveys to assess self confidence amongst female trainees and attending plastic surgeons, to search for baseline characteristics associated with higher confidence scores.ResultsOf the 73 participants, protective factors associated with increased female plastic surgeon confidence include age, parity, more advanced academic status, and mentorship.ConclusionsIn order to matriculate into a surgical training program, there must be a measure of confidence and resiliency, but further work needs to be done to identify and address gender gaps in training and early academic careers.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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