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Study Finds Women Are Better Doctors Than Men

Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

From Cosmopolitan

A new study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine has found that female physicians offer better patient care than male physicians.

The study, which looked at four years of Medicare data and 1.5 million hospital visits, found that "patients treated by female physicians had significantly lower mortality rates ... and readmission rates ... compared with those cared for by male physicians within the same hospital."

Based on these findings, if male doctors performed as well as their female counterparts, an estimated 32,000 lives could be saved per year.

There are numerous studies that have analyzed differences between gender in the medical industry, finding that women are more likely than men to follow clinical guidelines and evidence-based practice. However, as the study's introduction notes, there was still a bias against women in the field:

Despite evidence suggesting that female physicians may provide higher-quality care, some have argued that career interruptions for childrearing, higher rates of part-time employment, and greater tradeoffs between home and work responsibilities may compromise the quality of care provided by female physicians and justify higher salaries among male physicians.

The study does not, however, explain why patients served by female doctors are living longer. As University of Chicago's associate professor of medicine Vineet Arora told the Washington Post, the explanation is likely more "multi-factorial."

"It could be something the doctor is doing. It could be something about how the patient is reacting to the doctor," she said.

Nonetheless, the study, which was approved by the Harvard Medical School Institutional Review Board, helps put the myth that women underperform compared to their male peers when, in fact, women outperform men.

A recent study found that male physicians, on average, make $20,000 more than female physicians. Perhaps this study will help women fight for pay that is equal - or even higher - than men in the medical field.

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