Women: Do you prefer a male or female primary care doctor?

[barkley]

I am also in a search for new PCP as my previous one no longer is in-network.
My preference would be a female DO.
I was put on several waitlists.
One called back today who said they will accept me as a patient but they put me in with an female PA instead of the doc.
It's been a struggle to find anyone accepting new patients.

this is huge issue. our immediate area has the largest concentration of medical services in 4 states. it is home to five major hospitals, several cancer care centers, and other treatment facilities yet it can be near impossible to find a primary care provider. the problem has gotten MUCH worse in recent years but I recall when we moved here in 2007 and I had been searching and searching for someone for dh and i to establish with (I found pediatric providers for the kids). it wasn't until dh had to go to an emergency room and they told him he had to do a follow up with a provider and made an appointment with one since he had no-one that we were able to get a foot in the door (and I went with him to the appointment to plead to become a patient as well).

I have had both, the one thing I will say is the older doctors seem a lot better than the younger ones. The problem is you get to like one and they retire

we have had a couple retire and I hated having to find/transition to new but my oldest for whatever reason has historically had primarily younger doctors and it seems like every 6 months since the pandemic he gets a letter saying either his primary or one of his specialists is leaving the area so it's like a revolving door (making me think a doctor that might be too young to retire but old enough to maybe have kids in school/roots in the community such they don't want to move might be best to go for).

 

[NYCgrrl]

Equal opportunist.
I look at all doctors with a jaundiced eye.

 

[DanceDisney23]

I don’t care about the gender of my doctor. Male, female, DO, PA, NP, veterinarian, voodoo doctor, I’d take anyone at this point. But no PCP around here is accepting new patients.

The office here in town offered to take me in at their satellite office 20 miles away. But my OB is already 22 miles away, and I don’t want to take half the day off work for medical appointments.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Female, because I "figure" they will be more compassionate, but that is probably not true. Really I believe it is the individual, but being rational is not my strong suit.

 

[loves to dive]

I don't really care about the gender. I had a male OB-GYN for years, which was the only Dr. I was seeing at the time. He semi-retired and a female took his place, I didn't really like her. After I turned around 55 I really didn't need an OB-GYN (I've had all my internal female parts removed) so switch to a GP. The office I switched to was strictly because that was one of the ones my insurance approved and was closest to my office and was taking patients. At the time it was an older man. He was o.k. but was really quick to say oh, it's just this. I had bad acid reflux so he put me on Nexium which I took for a good 10 to 15 years. He retired and a woman PA took his patients, there was a MD associated with the office but frankly, I've never seen him in there. She was o.k. but left the office about 2 years ago. I take it from what I've heard, not under good conditions. The PA that I see now is a woman and I love her. She takes time and listens, doesn't treat me like a child just because I'm not young. My reflux was getting worse so she sent me to a Gastro who sent me for tests. The Dr. doing the barium x-ray saw a gall stone so sent me to a surgeon. The surgeon said it really was too small to worry about but I did have a lot of "sludge" in my gall bladder so best to remove it. What started as a 30 min. out patient surgery turned into a 3 hour major surgery with not only the initial surgeon but his partner doing the cutting and not 1 but 3 bi-opsys while I was on the table. I was sent home with a tube in my side and hubby had to drain the bag every night for 2 weeks. Turned out I did indeed have a gall stone, it was just the same size as my gall bladder so not visible. My gall bladder had gotten so bad it had adhered to my bladder and they were able to get most of it off but had to leave a small portion because they were afraid of doing damage. The surgeon really felt like it looked like it was cancer (it was not) and didn't want to touch it. So, had my PA not listened to me and said lets explore this instead of just prescribing more meds, no telling what would have happened. I don't think her gender had anything to do with it, it was just that was who she is. The main surgeon was male and not happy, his partner was also male and was great. I think the main surgeon was just mad because the surgery turned out to be more than he bargained for.

 

[pezgirlroy]

My primary and my GYN are female. I would be fine with my primary being male but I definitely prefer a female GYN who is around my age so that they can understand the perimenopause crud that I am dealing with.

 

[goofyernmost]

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[MIGrandma]

I have a unique situation in that I go to a teaching facility, and the providers there are new doctors who have agreed to work 3 years in the facility to gain more experience. So, every 3 years I am assigned to a new doctor. They have always been male, and I have liked some better than others. My current one is amazing and I will hate to see his 3 years end. Plus, I’m 67 and the older I get the more I’m leaning to want more stability in a doctor/patient relationship so I’m starting to consider changing facilities so I have a doctor who is not going to be leaving in 3 years. I hate the thought of making the change, but I think in the long run it might be best.

 

[disneychrista]

It appears to me that at least most of those posting are female.

Well the question was directed toward women, so it would make sense that those posting are female.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

OP here with an update.
I officially have a new doctor.
And its not who I expected.

There were 3 female options and 1 male option.

I had ruled out the one female because her profile looked and sounded too much like a high school year book.
I mean the glamour shot and all!

The female I wanted suddenly isn't taking new patients even though her profile said she was. However often I will judge the type of experience I will have overall by the front staff and I think I dodged a bullet. The woman that answered the phone sounded like the most rude person and that's not who you want to talk to when you have a problem or are sick.

The 3rd female ended up being ruled out because her profile sounded very belittling like she basically gave an example of how dumb a patient was once because she thought she only had one lung because one lung collapsed years ago.
I could imagine her talking to patients like they are a child thinking everyone was like that one patient.

So the choice that was left was the male doctor my dad just started going to.
He has only seen him twice but my mom went and said he is very nice and knowledgeable and treats you like you're a person.
And after looking at his profile he does seem pretty normal. To me normal looks like not acting like they are above you just because of their profession.
When I saw his favorite movie is Die Hard I said to myself see that's a normal sounding person lol.
Plus when I called the staff that made me the appt and took my info seemed very nice and with it.

My appt isn't until April but at least I have one.

 

[Jodo98]

I used to only prefer women but after mine retired i switched to a male. He is very sweet and funny and a great doctor so far. My female doctor retired w/out a care in the world for her patients and you can tell she was tired of being a doctor. So I was a bit disappointed in her. I thought i wouldnt be comfortable w/ a male but here I am.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I don't really care about the gender of my primary care physician but I always want a woman gynecologist. Just personal preference.

 

[rowan1813]

I have a female PCP at the moment but I am hoping to find someone else. Her bedside manner is not great and she always blames everything on me being obese (yes, I know I'm overweight but I don't need it mentioned every 2 seconds) and she took a personal phone call during my last appointment while she was still in the room with me!

A big problem around me is due to the fact that we are a very low-income area and as a result, many new healthcare providers (not just medical, but optometry and dentistry as well) come here for a year to get their loans forgiven and then leave to move to higher paying locations. As soon as we are able to find anyone, they're gone again so that sucks trying to find someone with any continuity and history with the area.

 

[goofyernmost]

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[disneychrista]

Sorry, but the OP wasn't obviously directing toward women that I was aware . See the original below.

The title of the OP is literally "Woman: Do you prefer a male or female doctor"

 

[goofyernmost]

The title of the OP is literally "Woman: Do you prefer a male or female doctor"
View attachment 936434

Yup, I guess you are right, I didn't notice that. No problem I will just delete it, I sure don't want my opinion were it isn't wanted.

 

[disneychrista]

Yup, I guess you are right, I didn't notice that. No problem I will just delete it, I sure don't want my opinion were it isn't wanted.

No need to do that. Just was pointing out that the reason that the respondants were woman was because was who was being asked.