Physical medicine & rehabilitation residents' perspectives on women's musculoskeletal health

Abstract

AbstractIntroductionWomen are either disproportionately or uniquely affected by certain musculoskeletal conditions but have limited access to providers of sex‐specific musculoskeletal care. Few physical medicine & rehabilitation (PM&R) residencies offer women's musculoskeletal health training, and it is unknown whether PM&R residents feel prepared to care for women's musculoskeletal health concerns.ObjectiveTo examine PM&R residents' perspectives and experiences in women's musculoskeletal health.DesignCross‐sectional survey developed through clinical expertise and consistent with sports medicine guidelines.SettingElectronic survey sent to all accredited PM&R residency programs within the United States, distributed through program coordinators and resident representatives.ParticipantsPM&R residents.InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary outcome was residents' perspective of comfort with women's musculoskeletal health. Secondary outcomes were exposure to formal education on women's musculoskeletal health topics, exposure to various learning formats for these topics; and residents' perspectives on desire for further education, access to field‐specific mentors, and interest in incorporating women's musculoskeletal health into future practice.ResultsTwo hundred eighty‐eight responses were included for analysis (20% response rate, 55% female sex residents). Only 19% of residents self‐reported feeling comfortable providing care for women's musculoskeletal health conditions. Comfort did not significantly differ by postgraduate year, program region, or sex. However, with regression modeling, the number of topics learned formally in their curriculum had an increased odds of residents self‐reporting comfort (odds ratio [OR] 1.18, confidence interval [CI] 1.08–1.30, adjusted p value .01). The majority of residents viewed learning women's musculoskeletal health as important (94%) and requested more exposure to the field (89%).ConclusionsMany PM&R residents do not feel comfortable in caring for women's musculoskeletal health conditions despite their interest in the field. To improve health care access for patients seeking care for these sex‐predominant or sex‐specific conditions, residency programs may want to consider increasing exposure to women's musculoskeletal health for residents.