To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Physician Gender Influences Ordering of Imaging Studies, Say Researchers URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/2E4E2.htm Doctor's Guide July 9, 1997
BOSTON -- July 9, 1997 -- Female physicians are 40 percent more likely than their male counterparts to order diagnostic imaging studies for their patients, reports Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the July Journal of General Internal Medicine. "This may be due to the different practice styles of male and female physicians or differences in the interactions among patients and physicians with the same or different gender,"says Max Rosen, MD, radiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, assistant professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, and lead author of the study. Researchers examined the role of physician gender in the utilization of x-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasonography, and diagnostic mammography. The retrospective study involved more than 5,000 patients seen over six months by 29 physicians in a hospital-based academic medical practice. Researchers looked at the effect of physician gender on the ordering of tests for male and female patients and found that even when they corrected for factors such as the urgency of the visit, the patient's age, severity of illness and frequency of visit, female physicians still ordered more diagnostic imaging tests, says Rosen. In fact, women doctors were 62 percent more likely than male physicians to generate an imaging study if the patient was a man and 21 percent more likely than male physicians to generate an imaging study if the patient was a woman. There could be several explanations, according to Rosen. "If female physicians have a more collaborative approach to the practice of medicine, and if male patients are more likely than female patients to assert themselves in the interest of having something done, this might explain the ordering differences between men and women doctors," says Rosen. Another theory for the gender discordance, is that women and men identify more readily with the medical problems of patients of the same sex, because they have first-hand knowledge of certain gender-specific conditions, and that they compensate in some way for their clinical uncertainty about diagnosing patients of the opposite sex, by ordering more tests. This gender discordance, says Rosen, holds true for male doctors who are ordering tests for female patients. Rosen first became interested in the study's premise while managing outpatient radiology practices. Because he was trying to predict test volume he studied test-ordering patterns and found that women doctors who were new to the practice were four times more likely than male physicians to order x-rays. Rosen and his colleagues began the Journal study with the assumption that the newer someone was to the practice of medicine, the more likely the individual would be to order imaging tests. Screening mammography was not included in Rosen's analysis and all tests were performed within 30 days of an outpatient visit. The researchers also determined that regardless of physician gender, ordering of an imaging study was 75 percent more likely for an urgent visit than for a nonurgent visit; 10 percent more likely for each additional decade of patient age; and 16 percent more likely for each doubling of visit frequency. Rosen concludes that more research needs to be done to nail down why physician gender influences the ordering of tests. "Our study does not make a judgment about whether the ordering of more tests is good or bad," says Rosen. "We want to look further at the doctor-patient interaction, to see whether these tests are generated by the physician, suggested by the patient or whether ordering the tests is a mutual decision." The next step, according to Rosen, is to determine whether ordering certain diagnostic tests affects the quality of patient care. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a major clinical, research, and teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.