From: robert@unlv.edu (Robert Cray)
Subject: Re: Women Doctors
Organization: University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 21:59:55 GMT

In article <92361.102433MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET writes:
>again, I need data. I also get the impression from speaking with various
>women dentists, physicians, optometrists and surgeons that women seem to be
>much more concerned with the patient's fear, comfort, and general well-being,
>while the male doctors I've spoken with seem to talk more about their
>technique and various difficult cases. Again, no data.

It's probably true that younger people have less of a problem with
women doctors.  I'm 27 and I don't consider that fact that my doctor is
a women a big deal one way or the other.  I only know two women doctors
(my own (internist) and another aquantance (family practice)), and if
anything they are more dispassionate than their male counterparts (in my
opinion.)  Here are some references that might help you...

				--robert

TI  - Physician demographics and the risk of medical malpractice.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to clarify which, if any,
      physician demographic characteristics are associated with an
      increased rate of medical malpractice claims. METHODS: We
      analyzed the malpractice experience of 9,250 physicians insured
      for at least 2 years from 1977 to 1987 in the state of New
      Jersey. After adjusting for years at risk, physician claims per
      year was categorized into low, medium, and high. RESULTS: Male
      physicians were three times as likely to be in the high-claims
      group as female physicians, even after adjusting for other
      demographic variables (relative risk, 3.1; 99% confidence
      interval, 2.2 to 4.4). Specialty was strongly associated with
      claims rate, with neurosurgery, orthopedics, and
      obstetrics/gynecology having 7 to 12 times the number of claims
      per year as psychiatry, the specialty with the fewest claims. The
      rate of claims varied with age (p < 0.001) and peaked at
      approximately age 40. No association was evident between claims
      rate and a physician's site of training or type of degree.
      CONCLUSION: Male physicians are three times as likely to be in a
      high-claims category as female physicians. We suspect that the
      most likely explanation for this finding is that women interact
      more effectively with patients. Understanding the reasons for the
      variation in claim rates between physicians may lead to the
      development of methods to reduce the overall rate of malpractice
      claims.
AU  - Taragin MI
AU  - Wilczek AP
AU  - Karns ME
AU  - Trout R
AU  - Carson JL
SO  - Am J Med 1992 Nov;93(5):537-42

TI  - [Effect of the physician's and the patient's sex on the clinical
      interview]
AB  - OBJECTIVE. To analyse differences attributable to the sex of the
      doctor and of the patient in the activities and content of the
      clinic appointment in Primary Attention. DESIGN. Analysis of
      interaction, in terms of activities and content, in 157 clinic
      appointments. SITE. General medical consultations in four Primary
      Attention Public Health Centres. PATIENTS. Those who used the
      health services on the day of the study. INTERVENTION. Tape
      recording of the appointments. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS. The
      interviews were recorded. There were shown to be differences
      according to the sex of the doctor and of the patient in terms of
      the development and content of the interviews. The style of the
      woman doctor involved longer interviews with greater social
      content; in general sameness of sex (doctor and patient) led to
      greater mutual complementation in the interviews. CONCLUSIONS. It
      has been shown that there are differences in the activities and
      content of the clinic appointments in Primary Attention which
      depend on the sex of the patient and doctor.
AU  - Hern:andez-Monsalve LM
AU  - Garc:ia Olmos LM
AU  - P:erez Fern:andez MM
AU  - G:ervas J
SO  - Aten Primaria 1992 Sep 15;10(4):719-24

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