title: Professional recognition of female and male doctors.
abstract: The awards for the excellence of the Official College of Physicians of Barcelona (COMB) were instituted in 2004 to recognize the excellence of the professional exercise. The winners are yearly chosen by juries appointed by the board of government, whose members propose for the award doctors who, in their opinion, have an exemplary professional and human behaviour.
  
  
  METHODS
  The number of male and female doctors who have obtained this recognition has been analysed in relation with the sex distribution in the juries. Likewise it has been compared the ratios men-to-women of those who have been rewarded and this ratio among physicians of more than 45 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between the awarded physicians the ratio men-to-women was of 2.7/1 (range, from 1.2/1 for awardees in primary care to 6/1 in research). The men-to-women ratio among those who were awarded was in parallel to the man-to-women ratios of the juries. The ratio between men and women among members of the COMB of more than 45 years was 1.4/1, whereas in those who were awarded it was of 2.7/1. The increase in the proportion of women in the juries in the last four years has been followed by an increase in the number of female physicians awarded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This data demonstrates that the predominance of male doctors among those who were awarded does not depend so much on the age factor, but basically on the proportion of male and female doctors in the juries.
authors.affiliation: Ex-presidente del Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. Electronic address: bruguera@clinic.ub.es.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bruguera
authors.affiliation: Secretaria general del Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arrizabalaga
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Hepatología, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Londoño
authors.affiliation: Vicepresidente del Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Padrós
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001363:Awards and Prizes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain
keywords: Excelencia profesional; Medical professionalism; Profesionalismo médico; Professional excellence