Do Female Doctors Provide Better Care than Their Male Counterparts?

Does the gender of your doctor make a difference in health care outcomes? A new study by Harvard researchers, published at the end of last year in JAMA Internal Medicine, proposes that female doctors see better results than male doctors. The study revealed that patients in the care of female doctors were less likely to die or be re-admitted to the hospital after they had been discharged. The authors of the study reported that about 32,000 fewer patients would die if male physicians could achieve the same outcomes as female physicians each year.

The study, Comparison of Hospital Mortality and Readmission Rates for Medicare Patients Treated by Male vs Female Physicians, asked the question: “Do patient outcomes differ between those treated by male and female physicians?”

The research, which examined a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries, in 1.5 million hospital visits, found that patients treated by female physicians had significantly lower mortality rates (adjusted mortality rate, 11.07% vs 11.49%) and readmission rates (adjusted readmission rate, 15.02% vs 15.57%) as compared to patients in the care of male doctors in the same hospital. The researchers found that differences in practice patterns between male and female physicians may have important clinical implications for patient outcomes.

While the seemingly fractional difference might not appear to be that significant to the untrained eye, Ashish Jha, one of the study’s main authors and professor of public health at the Harvard School of Public Health, said, “If we had a treatment that lowered mortality by 0.4 percentage points or half a percentage point, that is a treatment we would use widely. We would think of that as a clinically important treatment we want to use for our patients,” in a story that appeared in the Washington Post.

Ashish Jha also noted “Women physicians are more likely to do evidence-based medicine, and follow clinical guidelines. They are more likely to communicate in a way patients report is more effective.” While it will require further study to uncover the precise reasons for the improved outcomes for female physicians, it is helpful for prospective healthcare consumers to know that female doctors tend to get better results and fewer of their patients die in their care.

If you want to live, it seems, working with a female doctor might just give you the edge you need.

 

 

 

 

 

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