Why are women leaving medicine? Gaslighting.

"We cannot change societal norms, gender biases, childhood needs, the education system, or stop a pandemic. But, we can stop gaslighting 50% of the population. We can start acknowledging that the simple fact of gender does greatly affect patient and support staff expectations, time, power, compensation, and career trajectory. Women physicians have gained much ground, but this world and life are nowhere near a level playing field yet. When we all work together to allow our women physicians some flexibility in schedules, 10 to 20% more administrative time, transparent salary offerings, remote work options, extra "flex days" for children's medical appointments, on-site childcare, and considerate timing of "mandatory" meetings we can set us all up for success. These are radical proposals that are not "fair and equal," but they address the reality of unequal experiences. Maybe then we can stop the hemorrhaging of women physicians from health care. When we acknowledge and tweak current systems and structures to accommodate the 50% of medical students graduating, we are setting ourselves up for success."

Dawn Sears is a gastroenterologist and can be reached on Twitter @GutGirlMD, YouTube, and at GutGirlMD Consulting.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Why are women leaving medicine? Gaslighting."

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