GENDER IN MEDICAL ENCOUNTERS - AN ANALYSIS OF PHYSICIAN AND PATIENT COMMUNICATION IN A PRIMARY-CARE SETTING

The relation of physician and patient gender to verbal and nonverbal c ommunication was examined in 100 routine medical visits. Female physic ians conducted longer visits, made more positive statements, made more partnership statements, asked more questions, made more back-channel responses, and smiled and nodded more. Patients made more partnership statements and gave more medical information to female physicians. The combinations of female physician-female patient and female physician- male patient received special attention in planned contrasts. These co mbinations showed distinctive patterns of physician and patient behavi or, especially in nonverbal communication. We discuss the relation of the results to gender differences in nonclinical settings, role strain s in medical visits, and current trends in medical education.