Do female doctors have better outcomes?
Do you prefer to see a female doctor? Will this affect the quality of your care? Perhaps. Read on
UCLA recently published a study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (Miyawaki, 2024) which suggested that female doctors tend to have patients with lower mortality rates. The rates published in the journal varied between female and male patients as well as doctors.
What data supports this?
Female patients had a mortality rate of 8.15% when treated by female doctors; whereas male doctors had a mortality rate of 8.38%.
Male patients had a mortality rate of 10.15% when treated by female doctors, and 10.23% when treated by male doctors.
This data is from the claims made to American company Medicare. It uses data from claims that were made between 2016 and 2019.
What does this mean?
The data suggests that female doctors have better patient outcomes than their male counterparts. In short, female and male doctors are different. They practice medicine differently – and you may be slightly more likely to have a better outcome if you are treated by a female doctor.
What are the reasons for this?
Lots of reasons are suggested in the article. One is that male doctors could underestimate female patient’s illnesses. Another reason suggested is that female doctors may foster an open and honest relationship by having better communication with patients
And if patients feel they can be honest, they are more likely to give sensitive information that could be critical to their management. Patients may also feel more at ease with personal examination, if that is with a female doctor.
We have described a recent study on female doctors having better patient outcomes. We hope it has been useful for you.
Please see below for more links that you might find useful.
