OK, maybe that’s not really news. As a nurse and a mom, that’s pretty much in sync with my thinking anyway.

Of course, thinking that way may seem biased and not quite fair to men, right? But I have to tell you, I read this week of a study that found women doctors provided better asthma care to kids in Turkey than their male counterparts. Here were the reasons cited:

• Female doctors saw less patients, thereby giving them more time to spend with each patient.
• Female doctors were more patient-centered, listening better and attending more to the emotional & social aspects of health.
• Female docs were also more interested in getting patients’ input and partnership.

It’s important to note that all of the doctors studied, whether male or female, had similar educational/experience backgrounds and were of similar ages. The findings suggested that the female doctors identified chronic cough as an asthma symptom more often than men did, and also prescribed both short-acting bronchodilators and inhaled steroids more.

Researchers concluded that, “Female physicians demonstrated better asthma management than males, the reasons for which are not defined and can only be speculated.” They went on to suggest further study to try to determine some of the underlying factors at work here. It’s interesting to note that, although the women doctors were clearly not bringing in as many dollars because they were seeing significantly less patients, their patients were enjoying better outcomes, which would reduce overall healthcare expenditures. Hmm… I wonder which one had a more positive impact on the bottom line?

But I have to say that these findings came as no real surprise to me and echo my experiences both inside and outside of health care over the years. Just last year, when my mother was gravely ill, I experienced awful, superficial and uncaring “care” from a male physician and wonderfully thorough, caring, healing care from 3 female physicians. It was quite a contrast in approaches. I’m not silly enough to think there are no good male physicians, but I DO think that the female and male bedside manners are often quite different.

You can use the comments link below to tell us what you think about these findings and your experiences.