Women found more likely to burn out from practice stress

Study data reveal that female primary care physicians treat more complex patients.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. June 13, 2005.

General internist Barbara Horner-Ibler, MD, PhD, finds keeping to her schedule difficult, even though she sees only the minimum number of patients her practice requires -- eight per half-day.

"This week I had one male patient in my schedule in the middle of my afternoon," she said. "I was running late, as usual, and my thought when I saw his name was, 'Oh good, a man. He'll want to get back to the office. I can catch up.' "

When she walked in and asked him how he was doing, the patient's eyes welled with tears. He'd just lost his job.

"So much for my one quick visit," Dr. Horner-Ibler said. "Needless to say, I did not catch up."

The practices of female primary care physicians are different from those of their male counterparts, according to data collected by Dr. Horner-Ibler.

Typically, women doctors find that their patient panels are highly complex and predominantly female -- often because these patients seek out female physicians. Like Dr. Horner-Ibler, physicians may find it difficult to stay on schedule as they deal with these time-intensive patients. They are also twice as likely to report high levels of stress and feeling burned out as their male counterparts.

As women inch closer to being half of the physician work force, their impact on the medical profession will grow. This makes it paramount that women become involved at the highest levels in their organizations to make practicing medicine a better fit for women, say Dr. Horner-Ibler and fellow researchers.