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Women doctors changing they way medicine is
practiced: “Over the last quarter-century, women have
entered the field of medicine in unprecedented numbers, changing not only its
face but its character. As they have
dealt with the competing demands of professional and personal life, many women
doctors have brought a different approach to the examining room and refused to
work the schedules that had long been a badge of honor. Nearly half of medical school students nationwide are now female, and as they enter the profession, they
are making patient care friendlier and therefore may be less likely to get sued
than male physicians. Women physicians also are more likely to serve minority,
urban, and poor populations and are twice as likely to go into primary care. But women physicians' desire to balance work and home life has also
caused a seismic shift in practice patterns: Female doctors work fewer hours
than men, according to the American Medical Association, with 33 percent of
female pediatricians working part-time, compared with 4 percent of male
pediatricians. The implications for the physician workforce are significant. The
American Association of American Medical Colleges is projecting a 100,000-physician shortfall by 2020 and
asking all medical schools to increase enrollment by 30%. That expected shortage can be pegged to
a variety of factors, including the aging of the population, the impending
retirement of nearly one-third of all practicing doctors -- and the
feminization of medicine. Female doctors in training now outnumber men in dermatology, family medicine,
psychiatry, pediatrics, and OB/GYN. And in internal medicine, the country's largest
specialty, women are closing in fast, now accounting for 42% of all
interns. Women tend to cluster in
specialties that are more accommodating of women and part-time work, notably
pediatrics and obstetrics, in which two-thirds of trainees are now female. But
these same specialties may be of little use to the aging and medically demanding baby
boomers soon to be
more in need of orthopedists,
pulmonologists, and cardiologists. Currently, fewer than 10% of thoracic
and orthopedic surgery residents are women. Women doctors' preference for family practice may also mean that
eventually some male patients won't have access to a male primary care provider
-- and might be less likely to seek medical care. ``For years, women have
argued that it would be good for women to have care from a woman," said Levinson.
``Men might want the same choice. Will we make it available?" …For the typical patient, having a woman physician means longer office
visits. They typically spend more time talking with and counseling patients,
according to a 2002 analysis in the Journal of the American Medical
Association. That extra time may
also mean a longer wait to see a doctor. A full-time male doctor typically sees
102 patients per week; a full-time female doctor, 87. The discrepancy is
aggravated by the fact that women tend to draw more patients into a practice at
the same time that they are more apt to work part-time. Having a part-time doctor can be good for patients, too.
Working part-time helps doctors avoid burnout, said Jennifer Shu, a
pediatrician in Atlanta who recently left a part-time position at
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. ``Patients want someone who is happy and fresh and enjoys
working," Shu said. Part-time physicians ``will also do shift work, flex
time, work on evenings or weekends. It's no longer a 9-to-5 world. [Parents
won't] have to miss work every time a kid is sick." |
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