Women doctors: productivity in Great Britain and the United States

An Analysis of the Impact of Gender on Physician Practice Patterns

Through analysis of Community Tracking Study Physician Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. physicians, we find that women physicians are significantly less satisfied with time for patients than their male colleagues. Among primary care physicians, about one third of the gender difference is explained by physician attributes, practice characteristics, geographical location and patient profiles. Control variables explain all of the gender gap among specialist physicians. Among primary care physicians, the effects of practice type and perceptions of patient complexity on satisfaction with time for patients are mediated by physician gender. Among specialist physicians, gender interacts with practice ownership and hours spent in medically related activity to determine satisfaction with time for patients.

Supply projections as planning: a critical review of forecasting net physician requirements in Canada

This study involves a critical review of the current methods used to establish net future physician manpower requirements in Canada. The paper explores specific examples of physician manpower forecasting in Canada, and contrasts them with an extensive U.S. exercise completed recently. The conceptual and measurement difficulties inherent in the Canadian methodology are outlined. Particular attention is paid to the various factors that can potentially influence physician requirements but which are omitted from consideration in traditional forecasting. The paper concludes with a discussion of the definition of 'need' in the context of physician requirements.