Gender differences in disease distribution in patients who prefer a woman surgeon

ABSTRACT Introduction: This study aims to reflect people's point of view regarding a female surgeon in the Central Anatolia Region by analyzing the disease distribution, gender, and one-year surgery data of patients who admitted to the outpatient clinic of one of the four women surgeons. Methods: Patients who applied to the outpatient clinic of a female surgeon, in a 3-month period, in Kayseri City Training and Research Hospital General Surgery Clinic were analyzed from the electronic medical report system retrospectively. The information of 785 female and 56 male patients were included in the study between January 2020 and March 2020. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnosis codes of the patients and their demographic data were evaluated. Results: The mean age of the female patients was 43± 13.9 (range, 18-93), and the mean age of male patients was 43.1± 14.1 (range, 8-71). Of the patients, 93.3% were female. In total, 78.6% of women had breast and anorectal diseases, and these were the most common reasons for gender-specific doctor selection due to the feeling of embarrassment. Despite that, the second most common complaint of men (26.8%) was anorectal diseases, which was statistically significantly higher than that of women (14,3%, p=0,000). Conclusion: In our country, there are not enough studies about the patients' perspectives on the gender of the surgeons. In this study, almost all of the patients in the three months were women, and most of them had breast diseases. It was attempted to emphasize that this can influence the career orientation of a surgeon. ÖZ Giriş: Bu çalışma, dört kadın cerrahtan birinin polikliniğine başvuran hastaların hastalık dağılımı, cinsiyet ve bir yıllık cerrahi verileri analiz edilerek, İç Anadolu Bölgesi'ndeki kadın cerraha bakış açısını yansıtmayı amaçlamaktadır. Yöntemler: Kayseri Şehir Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi Genel Cerrahi Kliniği'nde 3 aylık bir süre içinde bir kadın cerrahın polikliniğine başvuran hastalar geriye dönük olarak hastane bilgi işletim sisteminden incelendi. Ocak 2020-Mart 2020 tarihleri arasında 785 kadın ve 56 erkek hastanın bilgileri çalışmaya dahil edilerek, Uluslararası Hastalık sınıflaması (ICD) tanı kodları ve demografik veriler değerlendirmeye alınmıştır. Bulgular: Kadın hastaların yaş ortalaması 43± 13.9 (dağılım, 18-93), erkek hastaların yaş ortalaması 43,1± 14.1 (dağılım, 8-71) idi. Hastaların %93,3'ü kadındı. Toplamda kadınların %78,6'sında meme ve anorektal hastalık nedeniyle başvurduğu görüldü ve bunlar utanma duygusu nedeniyle cinsiyete özgü doktor seçiminin en yaygın nedenleriydi. Buna rağmen erkeklerde ikinci en sık başvuru yakınması %26.8 ile anorektal hastalıklar olup, kadınlara göre istatistiksel olarak anlamlı derecede yüksekti (%14,3). Sonuç: Cerrahların cinsiyetine yönelik hastaların bakış açısıyla ilgili ülkemizde yeterli çalışma bulunmamaktadır. Bu çalışmada, üç aylık süreç içerisinde değerlendirilen hastaların çoğunluğu kadındı ve en sık başvuru nedeni meme hastalıkları idi. Bu durumun cerrahların kariyer yönelimini etkileyebileceği vurgulanmaya çalışılmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Genel Cerrahi, hasta tercihi, cerrah, kadın

Anahtar Kelimeler:

General surgery, patient preference, surgeon, women, female

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