Do patients view male and female doctors differently?

Abstract

Background: This study was a patient survey of attitudes towards the gender of their physicians generally and in medical specialties at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Objective: To determine if patients view male and female doctors differently and the factors that govern these views. Design: It was a survey of all consenting adult patients with the ability to make independent decisions. Setting: The University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Subjects: A hundred patients admitted in a tertiary hospital after appropriate ethical committee approvals and patients consent were studied. Main outcome measures: Hypothesis to test if there is gender bias by patients to doctors attending to them was raised. Results: Fifty three percent of the hundred patients studied cared about the gender of the attending doctor, that is, showed gender bias with 42 % of them preferring male doctors to attend to them and 11% preferring female doctors to attend to them. The respondents who favoured male doctors based their preference on better style of practice and communication of male doctors. Forty seven per cent showed no gender bias, reasoning that they both possessed the same professional knowledge and were equally competent. Preferences for specific medical specialties including anaesthesia and surgery followed same pattern except in obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatrics. The associations raised to the hypothesis are in details in the text. Conclusion: There is a need to improve awareness about the capabilities of female doctors, including anaesthesiologists, by relevant seminars and females incursing into male dominated specialties such as surgery. Female doctors should also improve on their communication and style of practice.