I recently injured my foot and leg in a ridiculous accident that never should have happened. How it came about is a story in itself, but what I want to talk about is how wonderful it was to have a female doctor on the case. Ellen Roberts is a perky young woman with a big smile and a delightful way of explaining things. Our journey together was somewhat brief but unbelievably wonderful. 

I have not had many female doctors during my lifetime. I enjoyed a woman dermatologist for a time but she does not accept my insurance anymore so I’ve settled for a man who is friendly and knowledgeable. My ophthalmologist is a woman who talks fasts, knows a lot and is a hoot to be around. Otherwise my health has mostly been in the hands of highly competent men who have kept we doing well but sometimes lacked the ability to make me feel as though they were really attuned to the concerns that I had. My primary care physician is the exception. He is wonderful keeping me healthy and centered.

There have been other times when I have felt compelled to keep my comments to doctors brief lest I come across as a female hypochondriac. Somehow I have often struggled to convey how I was actually feeling, but with Dr. Roberts that was not the case. From the first I was so comfortable that it felt as though I was talking with a girlfriend. She was warm, funny and intuitive, bringing up small things that she noticed about my injury and my general appearance as related to health. She took a great deal of time to become familiar with the exact nature of my injury by having me walk, asking questions and doing additional tests. She showed me exactly how to fit the medical boot on my foot and what kind of socks to wear with it. She even went so far as to show me photos of compression socks that I should purchase and told me how often to wear them during the day. Visits with her were so comfortable and delightful. 

I had a hematoma in my leg that was about the size of an egg but Dr. Roberts suggested first treating it with a warm cloth, compression socks and elevation of my feet each day. When I returned for what might possibly have been time for surgical removal of the hematoma, the pool of blood had shrunk to the point of being unnoticeable. Dr. Roberts joked that she loved having opportunities to show off her surgical skills but felt that there was no longer any reason to do so. Instead she gave me directions for exercises to help with my continued rehabilitation and suggested that some of my pain might be alleviated with the purchase of shoes designed for recovery of foot injuries. Then we talked and laughed and spoke of how we would miss each other since I no longer needed her services. 

My foot and my leg are great. In fact they haven’t felt this good in years. Dr. Roberts has sent me a couple of messages to be certain that I am still doing well and I find myself feeling so much gratitude for her. Somehow she totally got me in a way that only a woman is able to do. The only other time I have felt this way was also under the care of a nurse practitioner named Eleanor who was so insightful that I got excited when I had an appointment with her. She had practiced in London delivering thousands of babies and she had an understanding of how women tick that was extraordinary. 

Ironically my appreciation of encounters with highly intuitive healthcare workers is not all about female to female relationships. My husband has a female primary care physician who makes him feel better just being in the same room with him. He has never found another doctor to be as responsive to his needs and concerns. She has gone out of her way over and over again to quickly get him exceptional care from specialists. She calls him personally when she senses that he is anxious about symptoms or diagnoses. He swears that she brings down his blood pressure with her compassionate smile. 

A Harvard study has shown that elderly hospitalized patients tend to have better outcomes when they are treated by female physicians. The general conclusion from the research links doctor attentiveness and empathy to the more positive results. Female doctors are more likely to notice small reactions in their patients. They tend to to take more time asking questions and generally making the patient comfortable enough to be honest about how they are feeling. 

While not all women doctors have the knack of excellence coupled with bedside manner, so too is it true that not all male doctors treat patients with rushed indifference. The main finding of the study was that as an aggregate the female doctors generally did better at observing patient behaviors that led to better diagnoses and more focused care. While the researchers were not ready to say that female physicians do a better job, they appear in general to have a better understanding of how to communicate with their patients in ways that provide them with more information to use in diagnosing problems and creating treatment plans. I suspect that my favorable impression of Doctor Roberts had more to do with the ways in which she handled my fears than any procedures that she performed on me. Somehow she understood how I was feeling and explained away all of my anxieties in a way that led to a wonderful outcome. 

I won’t be changing my primary care physician. He happens to be a man with the same skills as Dr. Roberts. Still, if given the choice of two highly regarded doctors who are male and female, I might be more inclined to try the woman when I feel the need for the kind of talk that can only take place between two women. I’m glad to know that the medical community is willing to learn about ways to talk with us that help us to understand and feel comfortable. We females tend to linger longer and want more than just a quick synopsis. Feeling that personal touch makes all the difference.