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Introduction: Best surgical care involves a team approach; nurses are an integral part of the team. Interactions between surgeons and nurses impact the working environment and, potentially, quality of care. Given the growing number of women surgeons, this study was undertaken to determine the attitudes of nurses towards women surgeons.

Methods: Nurses in a tertiary care university-affiliated hospital were queried about their attitudes toward women surgeons utilizing a validated questionnaire.

Results: 135 nurses, 93% women and 80% Caucasian, were queried; 60% had been nurses for more than 10 years and 25% for 1-5 years. Relative to men surgeons, 60% of nurses believe that women surgeons interact differently with them and 86% feel women surgeons are as reliable. 60% of nurses believe men surgeons have better doctor-nurse relationships. Relative to men surgeons, 79% of nurses feel women surgeons are “good surgeons”, 80% feel women surgeons are confident in their skills, and 49% believe that women surgeons bring “something unique to Surgery.” 38% of nurses feel women surgeons have the same opportunities for advancement as men, 38% feel that the discipline of Surgery is sexist against women surgeons, and 50% believe the discipline of Surgery is responsible for women leaving the field, which is perceived as a frequent event; 72% of nurses think there are too few women surgeons.

Conclusions: A significant number of nurses believe women surgeons interact differently with them and patients; the majority of nurses believe they have better doctor-nurse relationships with men surgeons and that women surgeons have inferior surgeon-patient relationships. Most, but not all, nurses see admirable qualities in women surgeons; the majority of, though not all, nurses believe women surgeons are as “good,” confident, capable, and reliable as men surgeons. Less than half of the nurses believe women surgeons bring “something unique to Surgery”. Many nurses believe women surgeons have reduced opportunities in Surgery and that Surgery is sexist against women surgeons. Most nurses believe Surgery promotes women to leave Surgery and there are too few women surgeons. Nurses note discrimination in Surgery against women surgeons and a notable number, though a minority, are biased against women surgeons. Intervention in the work place is warranted to improve the perception of nurses towards women surgeons.