Selection Criteria For Ophthalmic Surgeons in Turkish Society: Artifıcial Intelligence Supported Survey Study

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to evaluate the criteria that play a role in the selection of ophthalmic surgeons in the Turkish society and to compare the choices of 662 individuals who are healthcare professionals (Group-1) and 517 non-healthcare professionals (Group-2) as well as different demographic subgroups.
METHODS: A total of 1,179 subjects participated in the online survey between March-June 2024. After collecting demographic data, the subjects were asked to select an eye surgeon among six representative images prepared by the artificial intelligence software with three questions. These three questions first asked for age and gender, then included academic title in the selection. Lastly, age was kept constant.
RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 44.85±12.94 (18-80) years and the M/F ratio was 0.53. In the first question, the preference for middle-aged male surgeons was the highest with 349 (52.7%) in Group-1 and 215 (41.6%) in Group-2 (p≤0.001). In the second question, the highest preferences were for ‘Associate Professor’ middle-aged male surgeon with 271 (40.9%) in Group-1 and ‘Professor’ older aged male surgeon with 155 (30%) in Group-2 (p≤0.001). In the last question, the highest preferences were ‘Associate Professor’ male surgeon with 205 (31%) in Group-1 and ‘Professor’ male surgeon with 188 (36.4%) in Group-2 (p≤0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The selection of ophthalmic surgeon is predominantly male and middle-aged, though this rate was higher in Group-1. It is also evident that academic title has a significant effect on the selection and alters the distribution. This effect is more pronounced in Group-2, among female and below the mean age participants. Although the predominance of male surgeons persists, it was observed that female and above the mean age participants were more inclined to select a female surgeon.

Keywords: Academic title, age, gender, healthcare professionals, ophthalmic surgeon selection, society