There have been a number of studies examining gender differences among GPs. Studies in Australia (Britt et al. 1996) and the Netherlands (van den Brink-Muinen et al. 1998) found, not unexpectedly, that female GPs tended to handle more gynaecological patients than male GPs. These studies also found that female GPs were more often sought out for psycho-social problems. Chambers & Campbell (1996) and Boerma & van den Brink-Muinen (2000) found that female GPs apply fewer technical procedures than males, while van den Brink-Muinen et al. (1998) found that female GPs were more attentive with problems from staff then were their male counterparts.
A recent study of 112 GPs (56 male and 56 female) (Adams et al 2008) found
‘Female doctors recall more patient cues overall, particularly about history presentation ’ (Adams et al 2008, pp 1)
The study also showed that female doctors took more account of male age when considering diseases that did male doctors.
One study (Boerma & van den Brink-Muinen 2000) has shown there are differences between males and females in terms of preferred remuneration, with female GPs more often preferring wages than business share. This same study of 8183 GPs across Europe also found a number of other gender differences including, female GPs: [1]
• had less technical equipment at their disposal
• made fewer house calls
• were less involved in services outside the practice (with the exception of providing training)
• preferred group practices to solo practices.
A recent study (Ribeiro 2008) found that in France and Portugal there was a vast difference in remuneration between non-national male GPs and non-national female GPs.