Sink or Swim Podcast · Sink or Swim Podcast

In Her Scrubs: Perspectives of Women in Medicine

·1 hr 6 min·4 clips

A 2024 JAMA study of 458,000 female patients and 318,000 male patients linked female physicians to lower mortality.

1. Sink or Swim Podcast’s “In Her Scrubs: Perspectives of Women in Medicine” focuses on how Christina, Nicole, and Brittany describe women’s paths through medical training. 2. Christina introduces herself as a fourth-year allopathic medical student at Nova Southeastern University, while Nicole and Brittany say they are fourth-year students going into emergency medicine. 3. The episode asks what medical training looks like through the lens of being female, from pre-med through residency and into future attending jobs. 4. Christina cites 2024–2025 medical school matriculants as 55.1% female and says women have been the majority for six years running. 5. The speakers then compare that with 50.2% female residents in 2024 and note the increase from 47.3% in 2021. 6. They point out the larger drop to 38.7% female practicing physicians and question what happens between matriculation and attending work. 7. Nicole and Brittany link that drop to family formation, marriage, and the lack of policies that support mothers in medical school. 8. Christina says women in their class have not started families in the same way as the men who have “started families,” because pregnancy and physical recovery change the calculation. 9. The specialty breakdown names orthopedic surgery at 5.3% female, thoracic surgery at 7.0% female, and interventional cardiology at 7.7% female. 10. The same segment names pediatrics at 66% female, OB-GYN at 62% female, and endocrinology at 54% female. 11. The speakers connect lower female representation in some specialties to pay differences, specialty culture, and assumptions about women being drawn toward child-centered fields. 12. Christina describes hearing that she looked like “a pediatrics person,” and the group reacts to how loaded that single sentence felt. 13. They also describe noticing how often people default to “he” when talking about a doctor, then deliberately retraining themselves to say “she” or “they.” 14. Nicole brings in a study of 194 program directors showing 12% women and 88% men. 15. The episode adds that women make up only 14% of chairs and 16% of deans, even though they served as interim chairs 20% of the time and interim deans 27% of the time. 16. The speakers read that pattern as women being called on to stabilize institutions, then not being chosen permanently. 17. The tone is conversational and personal, with each speaker interrupting, agreeing, and adding examples from medical school and clinical rotations. 18. The format mixes statistics, anecdotal stories, and short back-and-forth reactions rather than a formal lecture. 19. Best for pre-med and medical students thinking about gender, specialty choice, and career timing. 20. Skip if you want a purely technical medicine episode with no personal reflection.

As heard by us

A candid peer conversation about gender, belonging, and the realities of training in medicine.

Christina, Nicole, and Brittany keep the focus on what it feels like to move through medicine as women, from pre-med through training and into the future they are trying to shape.

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Why you'd press play

Hear fourth-year medical students talk plainly about women in medicine, specialty fit, pregnancy and accommodations, and what training feels like.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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