Revitalize Women Physician Circle’s Post

ICYMI, this week, a study found that women are less likely to die when treated by female doctors. It’s not the first study with similar results, and it likely won’t be the last. One of the reasons cited is that medical students get limited training in women’s health issues. That is definitely true. Equally as important, however, is that there are variations in how men and women physicians treat women. Women’s pain and symptoms are often dismissed, or deemed less severe, emotional or psychological in origin. Megan Ranney has shared that women physicians may be more aware of that and more empathetic. According to Ashish Jha, the differences exist because women physicians “tend to be better at communication, listening to patients, and speaking openly.” As a result their patients are less likely to experience miscommunication, misunderstanding, and bias. There is nuance here, so please learn more before taking these as firm conclusions or switching doctors. This article is a good starting point: https://lnkd.in/emYR7A7n BUT, in so many ways, society has made men the gold standard, and women have tried to emulate men in the workplace. It’s time to FLIP THAT SCRIPT. We need to learn what women doctors are doing right when they treat women, then teach all physicians to practice that way. And here is the link to the study from the Annals of Internal Medicine: https://lnkd.in/eNmnN_hj

Happy National Womens Day! Thank you to the women in medicine who have mentored me, inspired me, or have simply been my friend. There have been a few journal articles out there that have looked at patient outcomes when the physician is a woman: -Wallis et al. JAMA Surg. 2023. The findings of this study suggest that patients treated by female surgeons have a lower risk-adjusted likelihood of adverse postoperative outcomes at 90 days and 1 year following surgery. This association was seen across nearly all subgroups defined by patient, surgeon, hospital, and procedure characteristics. -Tsugawa et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2017. In this study, patients treated by female patients had significantly lower mortality rates (adjusted mortality rate, 11.07% vs 11.49%) and readmission rates (adjusted readmission rate, 15.02% vs 15.57%) compared with those cared for by male physicians within the same hospital. -Sergeant, et al. JAMA Health Forum. 2021. In this cross-sectional study of 171625 patients admitted to general medical units in Canada, those cared for by female physicians had lower mortality rates than those treated by male physicians, adjusting for patient characteristics. It has been something of a process, trying to figure out which tools to keep in my toolbox. And now, there is actual data that encourages me to show up with what I've already got. Let's continue to support, uplift, and empower each other. Let's continue to challenge norms. Let's use our tools--our gifts--to make healthcare inclusive and equitable. #WomenInMedicine #NationalWomenPhysiciansDay

ARE MEN MORE COMPASSIONATE DOCTORS THAN WOMEN? Don’t shoot the messenger here! But in this study, 15,000 patients rated MEN pain doctors as SIGNIFICANTLY more KIND, FRIENDLY, KNOWLEDGABLE & COMPASSIONATE than WOMEN pain doctors! The ASRA’s newsletter and the LinkedIn post interpret these results as BIASED against female pain doctors, ahead of the #NationalWomenPhysiciansDay”. The ASRA's newsletter points out that the study findings should NOT be looked at as fair or reflective of WOMEN’s skills. However, the recent Editorial in ASRA’s flagship Journal recommends against advocacy. The editorial instead recommends that scientific journals, medical societies, and the academic community should abstain from advocacy and support the publication of negative trials even if the results are disruptive in pursuance of the truth. (1) To me, the findings of the study suggest that WOMEN should do something to improve their ratings, as opposed to ASRA’s dismissing the results as BIASED in support of the popular diversity and equality narrative and advocacy, rather than “truth” from the published evidence? (https://lnkd.in/ejbcbzaM) I personally admit to also being biased, as I am married to a woman who is more compassionate physician and practitioner of anesthesiology that I am. But the question here is: How do we interpret these findings: ASRA's Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ejbcbzaM POLL A)    We dismiss the study results as BIASED B)    Women doctors should take the study results positively, embark on understanding the root-cause, and work on how to improve rating by their patients C)    Who cares, life moves on.

Patient-provider relationships are critically important. And research shows that there is always room for improvement. In fact, new research poses the question: Do better outcomes from female doctors signal a need for more empathy? Researchers propose that yes, the improved outcomes seen in care led by female physicians may be attributed to the empathy they often bring to their interactions with patients. Learn more. https://lnkd.in/g7jRvcAx

Learn about the challenges faced by female #physicians and #health professionals in our Supporting Women in Medicine #CME course. #NationalWomenPhysiciansDay https://lnkd.in/gEPVy2Ms

Good advice on whistleblowing: 1. Don’t do it on your own 2. Methodically collect evidence & present your case to someone capable of acting on the concerns 3. Educate yourself 4. Don’t take assurance of support on face value

Community-engaged research (CEnR) actively involves communities to ensure diverse perspectives shape research goals and outcomes. The New England Journal of Medicine article highlights barriers to patient partnership in research, including lack of researcher training, community engagement infrastructure, and patient participation burdens. At IVI, we've developed a framework placing patient engagement at the core of how health technology assessment can center equity. Engaging patients in healthcare research is an ethical imperative, and CEnR promises to create more inclusive, impactful outcomes. Let's continue pushing for more inclusive research that addresses the unique needs of diverse populations and champion patient engagement as a cornerstone in our journey towards equitable healthcare. #CommunityEngagedResearch #HealthEquity #PatientEngagement #healthcareresearch

#Womenshealth issues (endometriosis, PCOS, autoimmune diseases, menopause) are overlooked, under-diagnosed, and under-studied. I am eager to understand and dismantle this as a physician-scientist in training.   “All in Her Head” by Elizabeth Comen, MD is an eye-opener to the evolution of the modern medical system, and all the ways that medicine has historically disregarded female patients, romanticized their illnesses, pinned their physiologic diseases on hysteria, enforced societal expectations and gender norms, and even brutalized them.   This book will provide insight to advocate for yourself as a patient, or, if you’re a medical provider, to undo some of the institutionalized paternalism and sexism that has shaped modern practice.  Highly recommend--- I’d love to see books like this become part of modern medical education to do better for patients. https://lnkd.in/eni8BR-2

New research on the German health care system during the pandemic reveals that it provided more inpatient care to socioeconomically disadvantaged populations without worsening existing inequalities. Esra Eren Bayindir, Robert Messerle, Tom Stargardt, and Jonas Schreyögg from Universität Hamburg examined the relationship between socioeconomic factors (education and income) and mortality from any cause (including respiratory, emergency, cancer surgery, elective, and ambulatory care–sensitive care) and health care use. Using mortality rates from 2011–21 and hospitalizations from 2014–21, the authors found that education had a stronger impact on changes in admission rates than income. Read the full paper in the December global health issue: https://bit.ly/3TvmkUs #GlobalHealth #Disparities #Education

📣 Fantastic news! Our upcoming issues will feature in-depth articles on world pediatric and bone research.🦴 Stay in the loop and discover the latest advancements and breakthroughs in this vital field. 🌍🧒 Don't miss out on valuable insights that can shape the future of healthcare. #PediatricResearch #BoneResearch