Do patients of female doctors seem to live longer? Study after study has shown that it may be true. A recent study looked at the outcomes of male and female heart patients. It found that death rates for both women and men were lower when the doctor was female. Women treated by male doctors had the highest death rate.
The reason is that women doctors are more likely to listen to their patients. They are more likely to take their patients seriously than male doctors do.
Another study focused on listening. It found female doctors spent more time listening to patients than their male colleagues did. But taking time to listen comes with a cost. By the end of the day, the women doctors fell an hour behind in their schedules.
Does this make women “better" doctors? Well, yes and no. Listening skills are the key. It follows that listening leads to taking patients seriously. Listening is particularly important for the well-being of heart patients. Heart attack symptoms can be different in men and women. Chest pains, for instance, are less common in women who are having a heart attack. If there is no chest pain, doctors often leave out a heart attack. Male doctors are less likely to listen to female patients. They may be more likely to miss other heart attack symptoms.
Why do female patients do better when treated by female doctors? It may be that women patients feel more comfortable talking to female physicians. Or it may be that women doctors are more focused on the unique heart disease symptoms that can occur in women. It could be that women doctors are better communicators. Or women doctors may be better at picking up clues from female patients.
