MATERNITY CARE AND MATERNAL SERUM SCREENING - DO MALE AND FEMALE FAMILY PHYSICIANS CARE FOR WOMEN DIFFERENTLY

OBJECTIVE To examine whether male and female family physicians practis e maternity care differently, particularly regarding the maternal seru m screening (MSS) program, DESIGN Mailed survey fielded between Octobe r 1994 and March 1995. SETTING Ontario family practices. PARTICIPANTS Random sample of 2000 members of the College of Family Physicians of C anada who care for pregnant women. More than 90% of eligible physician s responded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Attitudes toward, knowledge about, and behaviour toward MSS, RESULTS Women physicians were more likely th an men to practise part time, in groups, and in larger communities. Me n physicians were more likely to perform deliveries; women were more l ikely to do shared care. Despite a shorter work week, on average, fema le physicians cared for more pregnant women than male physicians did. Among those providing intrapartum care, women performed more deliverie s, on average, than men. Women physicians were more likely than men to offer MSS to all pregnant patients. Although average time spent discu ssing MSS before the test was similar, women physicians had better kno wledge of when best to do the test and its true-positive rate. All dif ferences reported were statistically significant (P less than or equal to 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Among family physicians caring for pregnant wo men, women physicians cared for more pregnant women than men did. Both spent similar time discussing MSS with their patients before offering screening, but more women physicians offered MSS to all their patient s and were more knowledgeable about MSS than men physicians.