The gender bias in surgical devices risks compromising the performance and wellbeing of female surgeons.
This is the conclusion of a UK workshop designed to address issues related to the design of surgical equipment when in female hands.
From laparoscopic tools and staplers to basic equipment, such as gloves and scalpels, many instruments and protective equipment have historically been designed using data based on male physical characteristics.
This has created systemic challenges for female practitioners.
Design gaps in surgical equipment can lead to discomfort, slower procedures and even long-term health risks.
Team Consulting led an interactive workshop to understand and tackle this issue at the Women at the Cutting Edge event, hosted by the Royal College of Surgeons of England in partnership with the RCSEng’s I-Hub and Women in Surgery (WinS) group.
The event brought together surgeons to address gender bias in surgical device design.
Many surgical devices are designed using data from male hand sizes and strength profiles, creating inequalities that disproportionately affect women surgeons.
Studies in laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery show that device size, weight and proportions can significantly affect performance and ergonomic strain for those with smaller glove sizes, regardless of dexterity level.
There are also examples of bias having severe health impacts – for example, in the case of lead protection garments to protect clinicians from radiation exposure.
There is evidence that many standard vests fail to adequately protect breast tissue, contributing to 2.9x greater breast cancer incidence among female orthopaedic surgeons compared to the general female population.
The workshop emphasised the importance of early engagement with clinical experts, inclusive research methods, and the use of anthropometric data that represents a diverse user base when defining surgical device specifications.
An interactive survey session with surgeons in the workshop revealed results that mirrored the academic evidence, demonstrating clear gaps affecting women surgeons:
• 100% of participants (around 20 surgeons) reported experience using surgical devices that they felt were not well-suited to them
• Participants reported that the consequences of this include fatigue (50%), pain and discomfort (65%) and slowed or impaired performance (65%)
• Root causes cited were mostly related to size and shape, but also included device weight, grip, proportions and posture.
Lara Zaki, senior FEI strategy and innovation consultant at Team Consulting, said: ‘These responses perfectly illustrated how important it is to consider all these different factors systematically when designing a device that is inclusive and effective for people with different hand sizes and strengths. It’s not just about the size, it’s the weight, and it’s the proportions, as well as the context of use.’
Only one person reported usability issues internally, and no one contacted a device manufacturer to address the challenges, revealing a culture in which women surgeons have to accept these challenges.
Team Consulting advocates collaboration between designers and clinicians and calls for incorporating the voices of women surgeons to help designers address data gaps and create inclusive, usable designs.
‘Our teams are acutely aware of the biases in surgical devices, helping us create tools that are actively designed for flexible, effective and ergonomic use by surgeons with different hand sizes. We are excited to continue integrating the insights of more women surgeons in our device development programs, as we challenge how things are done currently with new innovations that tackle the gender data gap.’
