Abstract
What is the status of women in medicine? Women are in the majority in medical schools and soon in the workforce. Women serve as chief medical officers, presidents of royal colleges and editors of major international journals. Admittedly, a female doctor is yet to host Top Gear but every meaningful glass ceiling is being smashed through.
Still, something does not feel right? The ‘feminisation’ of medicine seems patchy at best. The pain is greatest in hospital specialties that offer little scope for a career break to bring up children. Evidence already points to gender differences in doctors’ working hours, specialty choices and communication styles, but why these differences exist is less well studied. A qualitative study design, as employed by Laura Jefferson and colleagues, can help explore the reasons for gender variations. 1
The researchers find that where male consultants demonstrate direct, abrupt and didactic communication styles, female consultants are more accepting of problems and more affable. A consultation with a female consultant is more psychosocial and holistic in nature. Struggling with workload and craving greater work–life balance manifests more stress in women, who perceive barriers to progress in their careers. On a more positive note, colleagues and patients seem to find female consultants more approachable.
Perhaps the sexes can be united by embracing curiosity? Ami Schattner, in an editorial, describes curiosity as a ‘universal and omnipotent, predominantly human trait’ that should be prominent in medical education, training and clinical practice. 2 Cat owners may wish to dispute which species is best possessed with curiosity but medical students and doctors might indulge this instinct more for the betterment of patient care.
Preferably, curiosity rather than commerce is the primary driver behind medical research, and presumably motivated the pioneers of cluster randomised trials, whose role is explained in a brief history of this interesting research methodology. 3