"Medical care for most men is one-stop shopping: a trip to a general doctor for a physical examination that includes full preventive care. "
While women always have to go to a specialist to get check ups regularly or for infections, men always can get a quick fix just from down the street. It says in this article from The New York Times that "new studies have shown, with tests like Pap smears are often overlooked, particularly if the doctor is a man." I think a lot of this has to do with a lot of men often being "simple minded", because they can get all of there questions and answers from one person, and they think women do too. Which is not true.
Is women's health not getting the attention it needs? In the article it talks about how many men as well as women find themselves visiting more than one doctor as they age, women's care is decreasingly getting worse from adolescence on. "We favor provision of care by any type of primary care physician, but we feel that none of them right now are trained well in women's health," said Eileen McGrath, executive director of the American Medical Women's Association. I think that this is a recurring problem in the United States and should be fixed.
The article also says that Dr. Lurie and her colleagues at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis surveyed the records of more than 100,000 women and found that female internists and family practitioners performed twice as many Pap tests as their male counterparts and ordered 40 percent more mammograms. This shows that women are more precautious to women health issues than men are. Does this mean you shouldn't go see a male doctor? All doctors are trained the same and learn the same myths about women's bodies, so you may feel more comfortable with a women, but you may not be better off.
So next time you go to your doctor pay close attention to see if you're getting all of the care you need, and make sure you're getting the right treatment because this is a growing problem in society today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In my personal experience I’ve had great male doctors but currently I have one that I don’t think cares at all. The two Gynecologists I’ve had in my life were both male and they are both very thorough. However, my current primary care doctor seems uninterested with most of my medical concerns. I’m fairly healthy and don’t have many issues so it hadn’t really bothered me but during the last physical that I had I noticed a few things. First, he didn’t listen to any of the answers I gave him to the questions he was asking me. Second, he did a 30 second breast exam on me, if that, and acted like that was a thorough job. I do self breast exams every month and my Gynecologist does very thorough exams every six months so I wasn’t too worried, just irritated. If it’s something he’s suppose to do to women during a physical then take pride in it and actually do it right. So no I don’t think you need only women doctors but I do think you need good doctors. I have recently found a new primary care doctor who seems more interested in my health. I think you should be comfortable with your doctor and be able to talk to them about any concerns you may have. It’s a shame that studies have found that male doctor’s just weren’t as interested in women’s issues as they seemed to be in men’s issues. I do agree that women have more doctors that they have to see than men do.
ReplyDeleteI believe that in order to get proper women's care, you need to find the doctor that is willing to put the time into your health. You don't want to be sitting there with your feet in the stirrups and only have a doctor take two minutes and be done. You want to know that everything is fine, and want to know right away if something isn't. I don't think that women have more doctors than men do because men also have certain problems that they must go to specific doctors for. Most likely when they have to go for a Colonoscopy, they aren't going to their regular doctor. Granted they don't have to go every 6 months to a year, but they still have doctors for specifics.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal experience I’ve had great male doctors but currently I have one that I don’t think cares at all. The two Gynecologists I’ve had in my life were both male and they are both very thorough. However, my current primary care doctor seems uninterested with most of my medical concerns. I’m fairly healthy and don’t have many issues so it hadn’t really bothered me but during the last physical that I had I noticed a few things. First, he didn’t listen to any of the answers I gave him to the questions he was asking me. Second, he did a 30 second breast exam on me, if that, and acted like that was a thorough job. I do self breast exams every month and my Gynecologist does very thorough exams every six months
ReplyDeleteWOMEN'S HEALTH