GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICIAN-PATIENT COMMUNICATION - EVIDENCE FROMPEDIATRIC VISITS

Objective: To determine whether physician gender and patient gender in fluence the process of communication and parent and child satisfaction during pediatric office visits. Design: Content analysis of videotape d pediatric office visits. Setting: University-based pediatric primary care practice. Subjects: Videotaped communication between 212 childre n, ages 4 to 14 years, parents, and physicians. Thirty-eight percent w ere child health supervision visits, and 62% were for the management o f minor or chronic illnesses. Main Outcome Measures: An established co ding system of physician-patient communication and measures of parent and child satisfaction with medical care. Results: Female physician vi sits were 29% longer than those of male physicians (P<.001). Compared with male physicians, female physicians engaged in more social exchang e (P<.01), more encouragement and reassurance (P<.01), more communicat ion during the physical examination (P<.05), and more information gath ering (P<.01) with children. Male and female physicians engaged in sim ilar amounts of discussions regarding illness management. Children wer e more satisfied with physicians of the same gender (P<.05), while par ents were more satisfied with female physicians (P<.05). Conclusions: Children communicate more with female than with male physicians and sh ow preferences for physicians of the same gender. These findings are c onsistent with communication patterns in adult patients and may have a significant influence on gender disparities in health care. Efforts a t improving the process and outcome of medical care should address gen der differences.