Pretty harsh outlook from Macleans:
Female doctors commit fewer hours and fewer years to the medical system than males, and family duties are at least one reason why. Despite their demanding careers, women are still given the bigger proportion of child care, housekeeping and elder care, but this pressure comes with a price. “Burnout” drives many women out of medicine altogether, and with five million Canadians currently without a family doctor, things are only getting worse. A 2005 survey found that just 23 per cent of Canadians were able to see a physician the same day they needed one – placing this country last among the six studied, including the U.S., Britain and Australia.
Female physicians are in demand since they tend to spend more time with each patient. Ironically, this compounds the shortage:
Women physicians’ attentiveness is one reason, says Day, that “there’s a demand for female doctors.” But it worsens the shortage””and patient frustration””when female doctors see fewer patients in a day, and then can’t accommodate all those who want to see them.
Related posts:
- Female vs male physicians
- Do female doctors hurt physician productivity?
- Female neurosurgeons
- The attack on female physicians continues
- Canadian doctor shortage
- Females are being blamed for the physician shortage
- My take: Thoroughness, blaming female physicians
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{ 2 comments }
Maybe there is some diminished productivity with women MDs, maybe noy.
However the WHINING by Canadians about their totalitarian medical system, so evident in the lengthy article, is absolutely unbearable. Like spoiled little clueless children, the belly aching by the lobotomized Canadian populace about their third rate system is nauseating.
Ed Sodao MD
There may well be decreased productivity among women physicians because of the realities of childbearing and families. I don’t know if that’s proven, but I’ll accept the hypothesis.
However, when that female physician is actually in the office seeing patients, are they actually spending more time with each individual patient? I’d say that’s a different matter. I won’t accept that as a hypothesis. Has that been proven?
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