Healthymagination

While women are becoming doctors in ever-increasing numbers, it’s clear that they’re every bit as good as their male colleagues. But a recent New York Times article poses the question: Do women make superior doctors than men?

The article, written by female physician Pauline Chen, came out of a conversation with one of her male patients who claimed that he preferred Chen to male doctors because women behave in a motherly fashion. And there is some science to support this. The article states:

Several studies have shown that female doctors tend to be more encouraging and reassuring, use shared decision-making, ask more psychosocial questions and spend more time — up to 10 percent more — with patients than male doctors do.

This would seem to ensure that opting for a female doctor would more likely lead to a comforting, personal experience. But other studies show that it’s more dependent on the unique relationship between individuals and the type of medcine at hand. For example, male doctors are generally found to perform more empathetically in obstetrics and gynecology than women. And despite any gender-based propensity toward showing more concern in doctors, it’s the female patients who generally incite these more psychosocial conversations.

So the efficacy of a doctor-patient relationship more heavily relies on the individual personality traits of both parties than simply the gender of the doctor. The situation that best fits each person comes down to a matter of choice based on many variables. And since women are currently entering medical schools at a rate equal to men, we’ll have an easy time choosing the doctor that suits us best.