"Doctor" or "doctora": do patients care?

BACKGROUND

The topic of gender and medical care is receiving increased attention but has not been studied in children. We noticed that several children undergoing laceration repair in emergency department requested to be sutured by a female physician. This study attempted to find gender preferences of children and parents for the physician in the emergency department.

OBJECTIVE

We undertook this study to determine whether pediatric patients or their parents have a preference for physicians of a particular gender. We also tried to determine whether they would be willing to wait longer to be seen to accommodate their choice.

METHODS

A total of 200 children aged between 8 and 13 years presenting to our pediatric emergency department for laceration repair were enrolled. With the knowledge and consent of their parents, the enrolled children were given a short questionnaire. They were asked, if they had a choice, would they prefer to have a male or a female doctor or would they prefer the doctor with the most experience. Their parents were also then given the questionnaire. They were also asked if they would be willing to wait longer to be seen by the doctor of their choice.

RESULTS

The study sample comprised 200 children, 139 boys and 61 girls. Among boys, 78% (n = 109) said they would prefer a female physician. Only 21% (n = 30) preferred a male physician. Among girls, 80% (n = 49) reported they would prefer a female physician, 20% (n = 12) preferred a male physician. None of the children surveyed wanted the "best" physician. When the parents were surveyed, 60% (n = 120) preferred a male physician as compared with 19% (n = 38) who expressed a preference for female physician. Only 21% (n = 42) of parents desired the most experienced physician of either sex to repair the laceration. All the parents who expressed a preference for the "most experienced" physician said they were willing to wait (42/42) until that physician was available as compared with less than a third of parents who were willing to wait for the physician of a specific gender (44/158).

CONCLUSIONS

Most children (79%) preferred a female physician for their sutures, whereas parents overall (60%) appeared to prefer a male physician. The children did not appear to care if the physician was the "best." Surprisingly, many parents also chose physician gender rather than physician experience. One hundred percent of the parents who chose the most experienced physician were willing to wait longer to be seen as compared with 29% who preferred a physician of a particular gender.