The Essence of Equilibrium
Female physicians are far less able to control their work environments than men, says Mark Linzer, MD. He helped design and conduct the Society of General Internal Medicine's Physician Work Life Study, which found that aside from less work control, the female doctors surveyed said they faced a more difficult patient mix, more time pressure in patient examinations, and a 60% greater chance of burnout compared with their male counterparts.
One of those factors, we think, is what has been called 'gendered expectations for listening, says Dr. Linzer, division director for general internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota. Patients prefer female doctors because they believe women are better listeners than men, he explains. But listening takes time, and female physicians generally aren't afforded more time for patient visits than male physicians are.
This is an issue I see many times with female physicians, with hospitalists in particular, Grimm says. They just can't seem to stay in the time frame that has been given to them for their patients. They think that the more time they spend with their patients, the more the patients appreciate them and feel like they are heard.
Another factor is extra work outside the office. If you measure the total number of work hours performed, including work and home, it is considerably higher for women, Dr. Linzer says.
Even if a working woman has help at home or a spouse who works part time or stays at home, she never really relinquishes responsibility of the home, Bailey says.
I think we.re in a very critical time now where we have to look at scheduling, patient load, fulfillment factors. A physician.s sense of commitment, happiness, and enjoyment in their work is going to be much higher if you pay attention to the things they want to pursue.
A woman carries social pressures that she needs to—even if she has a career— carry out the role of a traditional wife and mother, she says.
Regardless of whether they have a spouse and children, women generally feel a responsibility to care for their loved ones' needs, whether it's an aging parent, an ailing sibling, or a friend facing a difficult situation, says Jennifer Owens, director of the Working Mother Research Institute in New York City. One thing working in female physicians' favor, however, is they are less likely to lose their careers due to workfamily conflicts than are women in such high-skill professions as finance or law, because part-time work is readily available for female doctors, Williams says.
The number of hours that women work has been increasing. So there's incredible stress on women, says Owens. Just to have the support that you're not stigmatized for dialing back and not working a 60-hourplus work week means a lot.
What Women Really Want
Female physicians are far less able to control their work environments than men, says Mark Linzer, MD. He helped design and conduct the Society of General Internal Medicine's Physician Work Life Study, which found that aside from less work control, the female doctors surveyed said they faced a more difficult patient mix, more time pressure in patient examinations, and a 60% greater chance of burnout compared with their male counterparts.
One of those factors, we think, is what has been called 'gendered expectations for listening, says Dr. Linzer, division director for general internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota. Patients prefer female doctors because they believe women are better listeners than men, he explains. But listening takes time, and female physicians generally aren't afforded more time for patient visits than male physicians are.
This is an issue I see many times with female physicians, with hospitalists in particular, Grimm says. They just can't seem to stay in the time frame that has been given to them for their patients. They think that the more time they spend with their patients, the more the patients appreciate them and feel like they are heard.
Another factor is extra work outside the office. If you measure the total number of work hours performed, including work and home, it is considerably higher for women, Dr. Linzer says.
Even if a working woman has help at home or a spouse who works part time or stays at home, she never really relinquishes responsibility of the home, Bailey says.
I think we.re in a very critical time now where we have to look at scheduling, patient load, fulfillment factors. A physician.s sense of commitment, happiness, and enjoyment in their work is going to be much higher if you pay attention to the things they want to pursue.
A woman carries social pressures that she needs to—even if she has a career— carry out the role of a traditional wife and mother, she says.
Regardless of whether they have a spouse and children, women generally feel a responsibility to care for their loved ones' needs, whether it's an aging parent, an ailing sibling, or a friend facing a difficult situation, says Jennifer Owens, director of the Working Mother Research Institute in New York City. One thing working in female physicians' favor, however, is they are less likely to lose their careers due to workfamily conflicts than are women in such high-skill professions as finance or law, because part-time work is readily available for female doctors, Williams says.
The number of hours that women work has been increasing. So there's incredible stress on women, says Owens. Just to have the support that you're not stigmatized for dialing back and not working a 60-hourplus work week means a lot.
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