Leadership, Gender and Stereotypical Concordance during

Trauma Patient Resuscitation

SUMR Scholars: Brittany Harris and Brittany Milliner

Mentor: Maureen McCunn, MD

Specific Aims of the Study

I.  To determine if stereotypical concordance impacts the trauma team

II. To determine the most common leadership styles, traits and behaviors seen in female versus male trauma team leaders.

III. To determine if gender-typical behaviors, traits and styles of leadership improve perceived effectiveness of the leader.

Background Information

• Definitive trauma team leadership has been shown to improve trauma resuscitation performance.

• There are no studies looking at the role of gender on the effectiveness of trauma team leadership.

• More stereotypic male qualities are linked to effective leadership characteristics than are stereotypic female qualities

• When women behave in a more stereotypically masculine way, it may trigger negative reactions. 

Background (Cont.)

• Trauma teams have been characterized as: – High reliability- often composed of short-term member

involvement– Extreme action- having layered levels of leadership (hierarchy)

• These characteristics are due to both the critical nature of the interaction, often involving life-and-death decisions, and the transient composition of the trauma team

• Literature has highlighted the need for a better understanding of: – Team functioning and team leadership– The actions of the team leader and their impact on team

dynamics, and the outcome of the group (patient survival).

Summary of Traditional Gender-related Characteristics

Female MaleGender Typical Traits Expressive

(helpful, understanding, compassionate, sensitive to

others’ needs)

Instrumental(independent, competitive,

decisive, aggressive, dominant)

Gender-typical Behavior Communal(friendly, unselfish,

concerned with others, expressive)

Agentic(independent, masterful, assertive, instrumentally

competent)

Leadership Style Transformational(interpersonal, democratic)

Translational(task oriented, autocratic)

HypothesesI. Females who adopt traditional feminine actions, and 

males who adopt traditional masculine actions, will be rated more highly than females demonstrating masculine actions or males demonstrating feminine actions. 

II. Traditional female leadership will be viewed as empowering and traditional male leadership will be viewed as directive.

III. Male trauma team leaders more often engage in a translational leadership style, and demonstrate instrumental traits and agentic behaviors (Traditional “male”)

IV. Female trauma team leaders also more often engage in a translational leadership style, and demonstrate instrumental traits and agentic behaviors (Traditional “male”) rather than in a transformational leadership style, with expressive traits and communal behaviors (Traditional “female”)

V. Gender-typical leadership improves trauma team dynamics as measured by team effectiveness.

Methods

• Participant Observations• Semi-structured, open ended interviews with 20

physicians (attending, fellow and resident), nurses, and technicians as well

• Interviews will be transcribed and analyzed for:– Leadership Style– Gender-typical Traits– Gender-typical Behavior

• Field notes

Some Preliminary Findings

Limitations

• Dynamic nature of the trauma team• Very few female trauma surgeons• Difficult to obtain interviews• Medical inexperience of research assistants• Unpredictability of trauma cases

What I Took From This Experience

• Invaluable medical experience• How difficult it can be to obtain information

from subjects• Research training• How “real” trauma is• There is always someone

lower than you on thetotem pole