title: Patient Preference for Physician Gender in the Emergency Department.
abstract: Despite historical gender bias against female physicians, few studies have investigated patients' physician gender preference in the emergency department (ED) setting. We sought to determine if there is an association between ED patient demographics and physician gender preference. We surveyed patients presenting to an ED to determine association between patient demographics and patient physician gender preference for five ED situations: 1) 'routine' visit, 2) emergency visit, 3) 'sensitive' medical visit, 4) minor surgical/'procedural' visit, and 5) 'bad news' delivery. A total of 200 ED patients were surveyed. The majority of ED patients reported no physician gender preference for 'routine' visits (89.5 percent), 'emergent' visits (89 percent), 'sensitive' medical visits (59 percent), 'procedural' visits (89 percent) or when receiving 'bad news' (82 percent). In the setting of 'routine' visits and 'sensitive' medical visits, there was a propensity for same-sex physician preference.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Haley A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Nolen
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama; Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Justin Xavier
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Joel B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Rodgers
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Henry E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Lauren A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Walter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: emergency department; gender studies; patient preference; physician gender